Labour’s electoral drubbing was not a bolt from the blue. It was foreseeable. It was avoidable.
For many months, Compassion in Politics has warned that the government needed to adopt a bolder and more compassionate agenda.
We have warned repeatedly that a “Reform-lite” strategy risked opening the door to the far right. In December, our polling with Survation showed that Labour could attract 3.2 million more votes by standing by its core values rather than running from them.
I listened to the Prime Minister’s speech this morning, hoping to hear humility, urgency and something genuinely new. Instead, too much of what was offered felt familiar. A re-statement of positions we already knew.
A real reset would mean bold, material change: a real minimum living wage, a wellbeing index instead of a narrow obsession with GDP, a fairer contribution from the very wealthiest, an end to Right to Buy, and a national mission to build social and genuinely affordable housing. And on Europe, a re-joining of the customs union or better still the single market.
That is what a compassionate political agenda could look like.
One of the most revealing moments came when Starmer suggested that the Greens and Reform posed equal threats to Britain.
Really?
Many Labour voters, members and MPs support large parts of the Green agenda: climate action, housing, social justice, public ownership, and the future we leave our children. Whatever differences people may have with the Greens, that is not the same as Reform’s politics of fear, grievance and division.
This matters because Britain does not need more politics of division, it needs co-operation between parties to defeat the threat posed by the far right, it needs collaboration to find solutions that the country faces, It needs a politics that understands why people feel anxious, angry and abandoned, and responds with courage.
Starmer said incremental change will not cut it. On that, we agree.
I’ve been hitting the airwaves today to call for a reset based on genuine compassion which may include the need for a leadership change. The cost of failure is too great. Reform’s gains at the local elections show that if Labour fails to deliver what is needed, it could be handing the keys to Number Ten to Nigel Farage.
With best wishes,
Jennifer
Jennifer Nadel
CEO, Compassion in Politics