Doug Crawford

OUR political parties are no longer fit for purpose.

The lives politicians create for us are not the ones we want to live.

We live in rapidly changing times.

Technological advances and climate change are having a dramatic effect on our environment, our economy, and society.

The widespread adoption of “free market, libertarian”, economics has resulted in decimated public services, a polluted environment and rapidly increasing levels of poverty and inequality.

Mainstream political parties are out of touch.

Consequently the quality of most people’s lives in the United Kingdom has declined over the past decade and the prospects for future generations are as low as they have been since the Second World War.

This is not what the majority of UK citizens wish to see happen.

All organisations – political parties included – need to adapt to the environment in which they operate, otherwise they become obsolete and irrelevant.

Our major political parties and institutions have failed to evolve and are relics of a bygone age.

It is therefore not surprising that many people have become disillusioned with politics. Political disenchantment leads to populism.

This disillusionment is dangerous. It creates a void which can be exploited by opportunistic populist individuals and parties. This is the situation we see being played out across the western world.

So, if we are to create the type of society that the majority of UK citizens really want to see, and prevent populism taking root in the UK, we need political parties that are agile, responsive, pluralist, and which put the interests of people before those of vested interests and outdated ideologies.

Politics, and political parties, need to change. Urgently!

If Labour wins power at the next general election they need to start to build a new social contract with UK citizens.

• The case for democratic reform.

They need to acknowledge that UK democracy is broken.

Our system is riddled with cronyism.

Lobby groups wield disproportionate influence over the political agenda.

Our first-past-the-post voting system is not only unrepresentative but encourages short-termism and governments to put their political survival before the interests of citizens or the environment.

It will therefore be impossible to implement any meaningful progressive social, economic, or environmental policies unless the voting system is changed and our democratic processes reformed!

• The case for economic reform.

Labour must be prepared to challenge the “libertarian economic hegemony” and expose it for what it is; an economic ideology which benefits the wealthy, deepens inequality, results in austerity and underfunded public services, and encourages exploitative capitalism to flourish.

Unless alternative economic approaches are adopted progressive policies will never be able to flourish.

• Politics should be about people not power!

Labour needs to undertake fundamental reform.

Many of the external challenges it faces are unprecedented; radical thinking and a pluralistic approach will therefore be crucial.

It needs to deepen its connections with the electorate and demonstrate that it is listening.

Communicating a credible and compelling vision of the society and economy that it wants to create and how it proposes to make it a reality will be essential in restoring public confidence.

We, the electorate, need to make it happen.

First, we need to counter the rhetoric that “all politicians are the same” and encourage people to vote wisely, otherwise we play into the hands of the populists.

Secondly, we need to ensure that candidates at the next general election understand what really matters to us and remind MPs that our votes are only “lent” to them.

And finally we need to encourage and support newly-elected MPs to exert pressure for change within their party and to challenge the status quo.

Recent election results are not a vindication of Labour. The imperative for change still exists and its not just about Labour’s political survival, it is the survival of democracy itself that is at stake and Labour needs to take the lead.

• Doug Crawford is a retired management consultant and active member of Compass, campaigning for a more democratic, fairer, society.