More equality, more justice?

Thanks to those of you who attended Progress's third First 100 Days event on Tuesday, More justice, more equality?

The panel comprised James Purnell, Jenny Watson of the Equal Opportunities Commission, Kate Green of Child Poverty Action Group, and Sadiq Khan, who we were particularly grateful to for joining the panel at the last minute. Jane Roberts, our patron, did an excellent job chairing the event.

All had excellent, interesting things to say on what is such a broad topic, notably on on family policy and rights at work, but the overriding concern on budget day was certainly economic inequality. All the panelists had something to say about this, as it so often feeds into other forms of equality: Jenny Watson, for example, pointed out that it was the poorest mothers who often took the maternity leave.

There was agreement that a the desire to make Britain a fairer, and yes, an economically more equal place was something that traditionally made Labour distinctive as a party. Kate Green argued for that the government's rhetoric and actions in recent years had not reflected this, despite the real gains made in lifting families and pensioners out of poverty. She pointed out that Labour had rallied the country behind the cause of social justice back in 1997, and called for it to rekindle this mood.

James Purnell agreed. He proposed an ambitious new goal for government, to set itself the long-term target of eliminating the relationship between birth and life chances, to be regularly audited, rather like climate change. Denmark had shown it was possible, he said, and it would provide a real dividing line with the Tories, seriously putting their newfound compassion to the test.

This dividing line, though - has the tax-cutting of Brown's last budget actually 'blurred' it, as Polly Toynbee argues in the Guardian today? This has to be the worry, especially when the Taxpayers' Alliance (of all people) have described Wednesday's budget as 'George Osborne's first' ...

Hilary Benn is right: we need to make poverty history in this country too.

People’s responses to the recent UNICEF report, and to the spate of shootings during the week just gone, indicate that there is a real desire on the part of the people of Britain to tackle poverty and inequality at their roots. Last week, in a speech at the University of London’s Institute of Education, Hilary Benn put forward the case for a campaign on poverty in Britain, what he described as a “campaign against poverty of circumstance, poverty of opportunity, poverty of aspiration.  Wasted lives, potential unfulfilled.”

In his speech Benn argued that the Make Poverty History campaign demonstrated that poverty and exclusion is fundamentally about injustice: about the lack of opportunities, the lack of resources and the lack of medicines. Yet, he argued, in Britain, all too often, too many people feel that they have to accept the lottery of birth without question. At the heart of the Make Poverty History campaign was the belief that politics can and does make a difference to the quality of ordinary peoples’ lives.

Benn suggests that the biggest lesson we have to learn in Britain from the developing world is that if we work together, and campaign, and push, and put our minds to it, and fight, politics can change things.

What Benn is really saying is that we must NOT give into the cynics, we must not give into those who will argue that the problems are so enormous, so vast, they are cannot be tackled.

Hilary Benn is reminding us all of the strength and virtue of collective endeavour, he is reminding each and everyone of us of the values and principles on which our movement was founded.

Socialism Now? Tony Crosland 30 years on

Tony Crosland died thirty years ago today (I wrote an brief Grauniad piece about it here).

In its early days New Labour and the wider left were keen to respond to the legacy of Thatcherism. (You even got left-wing academics - like Andrew Gamble, Hilary Wainwright and Raymond Plant - writing about Thatcher's great hero, Friedrich Hayek, in a positive way.)

After 10 years, as Labour takes stock, it is not so defensive. A change of Prime Minister provides a chance for Labour to return explicitly to its social democratic roots. This is why Crosland is still so important. His distinction between ends and means, his rich understanding of equality and his libertarian streak mean that his work should continue to provide important insights for Labour as it moves towards its second decade in power.

2007: The year of equality?

During 2006 the Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual movement heard the welcome message from the government that they would finally legislate against discrimination in good and services – telling hotel proprietors that they could no longer refuse their services to gay couples for example. High profile ministers have been clear to support the manifesto commitments to outlaw this unfair treatment – notably Alan Johnson and Peter Hain – but we are yet to see the action from the Department of Communities and Local Government. Ruth Kelly’s procrastination on this issue has not only let down the LGBT community, shown the government to fall short on equality but also left her colleagues in Northern Ireland isolated.

Peter Hain has been determined to see this issue through, making a coherent case on a recent edition of Question Time on why the government should not compromise on equality and how if we miss this opportunity in Northern Ireland it will not come about for a generation. The more the DCLG waste time, the more good will we loose and increasingly it becomes a political issue that stokes up antagonisms between the LGBT lobby and regressive religious forces.

We want equality now – there is no more time to lose. Ruth Kelly should see through the government’s agenda on this issue otherwise we should start reporting her to Chief Whip, Jacqui Smith for Parliamentary discipline for not supporting the manifesto on which she and other Labour MPs were elected.

Sport: its a rich man's world

Today, StreetGames is launched. StreetGames is a new national charity set up to bring sport to the doorstep of young people who are currently outside sport but want to get involved. From the streets of Liverpool to the beaches of Cornwall we have shown that our approach can empower young people and help breed respect, cooperation and dignity in disadvantaged communites.

A new Street Games pamphlet explains that particpation in sport is profoundly skewed by class. Roughly, the top 20% of the population are twice as likely to particpate in sport as the bottom 20%. In a basket of sports (which excludes football and boxing) the top 20% are 4 times as likely to make it to elite level as the bottom 20%.

Governement strategy is to improve school sport, get that base right and then move onto sending coaches into the community. That's fine - its vital we continue to improve school sport and get more coaches into communities. Deprived estates have fewer clubs than the suburbs.

StreetGames is looking for supporters and patrons. Could you help?

Labour and the family

Hello all,

I am delighted to be able to join the Progress blog. I think its very important that everyone participates in the debate on the future direction of the Labour Party as we seek to renew ahead of the next general election. This website is already proving to be an excellent forum for party members to discuss ideas.

Yesterday, I made a speech on the importance for Labour to focus on supporting strong, stable families in the years ahead. The speech was part of the government's Social Exclusion week, which has been led by Cabinet Office Minister Hilary Armstrong.

The family has been uncomfortable territory for the centre-left after decades in which the right have used talking about the family to stigmatise lone parents and rail against changing modern families. There are indeed difficult questions for us as we consider new ways to support families in the years ahead, but I think its essential that we do confront those questions head on.

I would really appreciate your thoughts on my speech.

Thanks,

John Hutton, Work and Pensions Secretary

Have your say on Milburn's vision for New Labour

Alan Milburn, honorary president of Progress, yesterday set out a far-reaching ‘empowerment’ agenda for the next 10 years of New Labour.

He argued that the central issue for the Labour party to grapple with is that of the citizen’s relationship with the state. ‘The purpose of politics today,’ he said, ‘should be to help people take greater control of their lives so that they become as empowered as citizens as they have been as consumers … I want to change the distribution of power in society.’ In the speech, Milburn tackled the issues of greater wealth disparity, and called for ‘more to shift the focus beyond the traditional welfare solution of correcting the symptoms of inequality – such as lower wages and family poverty – towards an approach that deals with the roots of disadvantage before they become entrenched.’

Specifically, he argued that:

•    Welfare reform needs to be ‘back on the agenda with a vengeance’ with ‘incentives and sanctions’ to reduce the number of lone parents unable to work, partly by requiring them to actively seek work. He praised President Clinton’s welfare reforms, the subject of a recent Will Hutton Observer piece.

The party must adopt a series of tax breaks to spread asset ownership in shares and housing to tackle inequality.

•    State subsidies should allow parents to move children from a failing school, with the money transferring directly to their new school.

•    Government funded by local communities, who themselves decide the rate of taxes through local referendums.

•    Local health service and police could also be more accountable to the community they serve through elections. Community run mutual organisations could take over the running of children’s centres, estates and parks.

•    Voting reform for the Commons, power for Parliament to be able to vote on wars and a directly elected Lords.

•    The views of public service workers, and not just national inspectorates, should form the core of performance league tables.

Running through his speech and policy suggestions was the fundamental belief in the empowerment of individuals and communities. He sees this as the progressive cause that has been central to the Labour party for over a 100 years: ‘We need to forge a new contract between state and citizen where government provides opportunities and citizens strive to take them. Where the top down paternalistic statism of the last century gives way to a new bottom up agenda of empowerment that is in tune with the needs of this.’

What do you think of Alan’s speech? Do you agree with his view that the citizen/state relationship is key to renewing New Labour and what do you think of the specific policy suggestions he makes? Post your comments at the bottom of Alan's speech and he will respond next week.