Former Labor leadership candidate Rebecca Long-Bailey has called for Labor to abandon its cautious approach to the economy and fight the next election with a radical manifesto that includes state ownership and a standard of living contract between the government and the public
In her first significant intervention on economic policy since the 2020 leadership contest won by Sir Keir Starmer, Long-Bailey said Labor would need transformative policies if it was to win the next election.
Long-Bailey, who as shadow business secretary was a leading figure in Jeremy Corbyn’s team, said her proposed contract would deliver a defined decent standard of living for all citizens, ensuring that housing, food and fuel costs were affordable.
He said a minister for living standards with cabinet rank in the Treasury with the same position as the chief secretary would ensure the contract was delivered and legally enforced.
Starmer, who said earlier this year that “the slate had been wiped clean” since the 2019 election, will give a speech on the economy in Liverpool on Monday.
Speaking to The Guardian, Long-Bailey said she understood the difficulties of announcing policies too far ahead of a general election because it gave Labor opponents the opportunity to steal policies or poke holes in them. But he added: “You can’t fatten a pig on market day.”
Fiscal responsibility pledged by Starmer and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves was necessary but not sufficient on its own to restore voter confidence.
In recent months, Labor has opened up a lead in opinion polls and is now more confident of tackling the UK’s cost of living crisis. Long-Bailey warned that this was unlikely to last.
“It is naïve to think that Labor can maintain its poll lead without radical, transformative policies,” he said.
He rejected the idea that Labor had lost the last general election because its economic policies had turned off voters. “There were a whole range of reasons why we didn’t do well, but supporting public ownership was not one of them. All the evidence is that our plans to nationalize Royal Mail, rail and water were very popular.”
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Amid fears on the left of the party that Starmer plans to abandon plans to nationalize public services, Long-Bailey said state ownership was more popular than ever with voters looking to end the “big privatization scam “.
He added: “We are experiencing the worst cost of living crisis in decades, with household fuel and water bills rising, while rail fares continue to rise.
“It is vital that Labor stays on the side of public opinion here and that we go into the next election with our existing policies on public ownership.”
Long-Bailey said her contract would include changing the Companies Act so that directors have a legal duty to employees and shareholders, and limiting some of the benefits from pay rises. The package would aim to restructure the UK economy to rebalance towards workers.