Those who are arguing that Labour should respond to the UKIP vote in Heywood and Middleton by talking tough on immigration have clearly learnt nothing from the last four years. David Cameron has spent all his time done talking tough on immigration, as well as Europe, to stop the slide of Tory voters to UKIP. As Yvette Cooper said at the weekend, his policies have been the “worst of all worlds”. And the more Cameron has talked, the more votes he has lost. If appeasing UKIP on immigration doesn’t work for the Tories, why would it do any better for Labour (and let’s not forget that there are votes for us to lose from this approach)?
Over the last four weeks I’ve spent almost every day talking to constituents about their concerns as part of the Big Conversation, my annual community consultation. I’ve no illusions; immigration is one of the first issues raised by many of our traditional supporters. But new restrictions on EU citizens, for example, won’t address their concerns. They’re not talking about future migration, but what they see as the impact of past immigration. They talk about overcrowded doctors’ surgeries and housing waiting lists. They raise their fears about their children’s futures; that they won’t be able to get secure jobs that will pay enough to bring up families. And they express worries about our changing communities.
It’s true to say that people feel that politics has let them down. And they’re not wrong. The certainties that people had in my city of Sheffield 30 years ago – good apprenticeships leading to well-paid skilled work and access to affordable decent housing – have disappeared. Over a generation, around 7% of GDP has shifted from wages to profits, and from profits to dividends, impoverishing those at the bottom and driving widening inequality. As many companies continue to find new ways to cut labour costs, we have seen the growth in part-time and insecure work for too many people. At the same time, they see those at the top continuing to line their own pockets, as today’s report on top bosses pay rising by 20% illustrates.
As Ed Miliband said in The Observer, it is this ‘seam of despair’ that UKIP is tapping into, and so it is these issues that we must address if we are to stem their support. And it won’t build trust in politics if we make tough pledges on immigration, like the Tories’ failing net migration target, that will make no difference to people’s underlying concerns. Of course we have to demonstrate that we have effective policies on migration, but we need a programme that convinces people we are listening to their wider concerns and that Labour has the practical policies that can make a difference. We have begun to develop that agenda, with commitments on jobs guarantees, minimum wage levels, zero hours contracts, house building and NHS spending. But we need to go further.
We need a strong and confident message that Labour will use the power of politics to re-shape our economy and protect people from the ravages of an unfettered market – rehabilitating the role of the state. Only if we can demonstrate that democratic politics can deliver on the issues that matter to people in their daily lives – jobs, housing, living standards, health – will we be able to make them believe that there is a purpose in voting for Labour and none in switching to UKIP. Ed Miliband has set us in the right direction. We need to hold our nerve and develop the policies that will restore confidence in our politics.