One Nation
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Engaging and supporting the new Leadership team
Just a few months before the former Labour Leader Ed Miliband’s ‘One Nation’ conference speech in 2012 I discussed with colleagues the right name for what is now Labour: Coast &Country, we even wrote down ‘One Nation Labour’ as a part of the route to power in 2015 . . . . . Yet the…
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And so the next stage in the journey begins . . .
Sadly it isn’t a journey of engagement with a Labour led government, but a renewed period of opposition – lets hope it doesn’t become unduly introspective as we all endeavour to work out what worked, and what did not – and more importantly what’s required to win in 2020. As a Co-Founder of Labour: Coast…
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Majority government starts in west Wales
The delightful counties of Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire contain four parliamentary seats, all of which have been Labour, which we need to win again if we are to have a good chance of achieving a majority government in 2015. Taken together these seats are perhaps a microcosm of the challenge we face to win a majority…
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“You’re obviously just not trying…”: The harsh reality for Non-Urban Labour
We were discussing my chances of becoming a borough councillor at the 2015 local elections. ‘Surely,’ said my friend, ‘you just need to put the work in – knock on doors, put out leaflets – and then every seat is winnable? You’re obviously just not trying…’ He’s not had much to do with politics, bless…
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One Nation Labour, for the communities of coast and country too! Labour: Coast & Country’s Conference Fringe
The first fringe of the Labour List tent Conference 2014 was hosted by Labour: Coast & Country this sunny lunchtime. Over 100 delegates, including local activists, PPCs, MPs, and MEPs gathered to consider the question of how the Party’s policy review will deliver One Nation for coast and country. Hywel Lloyd, one of the founding…
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Towards a More Resilient, SME Friendly Rural Economy
As a One Nation Labour Party we need to expand our horizons beyond haphazard thinking on rural issues in order to secure a sustainable economy for Britain’s countryside and reach out to the rural electorate. What must be recognised is that rural areas are subject to an intrinsic ‘separation’, a root cause of so many…
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Delivering for coast and country to deliver a majority
Heartlands, 35%, core vote . . . most people in the Labour Party know where to find many of our voters. And yet when we have won the defining elections of the past 70 years, in 1945, in 1964, and in 1997 we have won with Labour votes and Labour MPs in seats like Hastings.…
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Delivering on the politics of the periphery
Three years ago in Progress I wrote about the need for what we would now call One Nation Labour. Welcome as this approach is, I remain unconvinced that we have a coherent rural and coastal programme to campaign on, that makes the new brand credible. Whilst the Tories take their rural heartlands for granted, and ideologically reject…
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A Rural Manifesto for 2015: further calls.
In considering the particular needs of rural communities and individuals, the Labour Party must appreciate that these are as much in and of the mainstream as city-dwellers. We share the same concerns for the big issues of the national economy, defence, jobs, immigration etc. A Rural Manifesto focused solely on our special issues would be…
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One Nation Labour
Tomorrow the Lords will have its first chance to debate the Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill. This regulation of supermarket power over their suppliers is welcome and was first proposed by the last Labour government. It is also welcome as a measure that may benefit those in rural and semi-rural areas. Agriculture and food processing is…