Written by Knebworth! Scene of many historic rock gigs, and last month an excellent Labour Party branch meeting – new, old and returning members met for an evenings discussion of ‘non-urban’ issues and how Labour could approach them on the road to winning in 2020.
As is often the case many of the issues here – poor connectivity, both public transport & digital; low pay and the impact of tax credit changes; and limited accountability of the council – are issus that affect communities that Labour already does represent – these are issues of equality, opportunity and social justice and we can fight on them for these communities too.
After a wide ranging discussion quite a few interesting ideas emerged, some for the national Party to consider (how to change GOTV, boundary changes will make more seats less urban), some for LCC (how can we help Labour have a voice everywhere) and some for the branch – leading to twinned leaflet rounds covering the whole area, and a proposed listening exercise for the first mailing to the community – the sort of new politics we like to see.
Thanks to hosts Jan & John Burnell, especially for the cakes!