Former Liberal Democrat candidate Chris Bowers introduces a new collection of political essays – edited by him, Green MP Caroline Lucas and Labour MP Lisa Nandy – aimed at uniting progressive minds across the political spectrum
IT'S never comfortable when old certainties disintegrate and dissolve, but that’s the reality facing the progressive parties in British politics.
Crushing results in the 2015 General Election and the 2016 EU referendum have forced Labour, in particular, but also the Liberal Democrats and Greens to rethink who their supporters are, what they really stand for, and how they will get to enact the policies they believe in.
The days when the centre-left in British politics could put forward what it believed was right for creating a caring, compassionate, just society, and enough people would vote for it as long as the proponents exuded a degree of competence, have gone, if indeed they ever existed.
The last two UK-wide votes have been characterised by anger, fear, helplessness and failure to understand an increasingly globalised world.
The last two UK-wide votes have been characterised by anger, fear, helplessness and failure to understand an increasingly globalised world. The result was a rejection of community, a broad understanding of the benefits of immigration, and a backlash against the perceived bureaucracy and democratic deficit of the EU.
It doesn’t matter – in this context – that people didn’t really vote for the neoliberal free-market hell that is likely to descend on them. The feeling of disconnectedness with the political situation meant voters lashed out because they felt they had little to lose by doing so. How much they stand to lose remains to be seen, but politically times have moved on.
The challenge for those with a wish to create a harmonious society lies in understanding the emotions behind the Brexit vote, and drawing up a political programme that can inspire disenchanted voters with the hope that there’s something better, proposed by people who are competent enough to make it happen.
Its success or failure may also have a strong bearing on whether the UK holds together or breaks up. This is the broad premise behind The Alternative, a new collection of essays co-edited by the Labour MP Lisa Nandy, the Green MP Caroline Lucas, and me (a Liberal Democrat ex-councillor and parliamentary candidate).
Caroline and I stood against each other in Brighton last year, and at about 6am at the count, we were bemoaning both the horror of the result and the futility of a situation in which people of broadly similar views fight each other and let the Tories stroll to victory.
That sowed the seed of the book and, shortly after, we were joined by Lisa Nandy, who had become disillusioned with how often she seemed to be defined by who she disagreed with rather than who was on the same wavelength.
The challenge for those with a wish to create a harmonious society lies in understanding the emotions behind the Brexit vote, and drawing up a political programme that can inspire disenchanted voters.
The result is a collection of essays that we hope will become a de facto manual for people seeking to build a broad consensus among the centre/left. Half the essays deal with policies and values around which progressives could unite and which could inspire confidence in progressive politics; the other half deal with the mechanics – everything from setting out the various options for pre- and post-electoral cooperation, through a history of past cooperation, to the University of Strathclyde psephologist John Curtice explaining just how much of an appetite there is among voters for progressive policies.
A striking feature of the project has been the polarities of potential and pitfalls. The scope for cooperation is immense – similarities of purpose abound, and differences on policy are as much within parties as across party lines (think Trident or TTIP) – but the tribalism and scars from past battles are deep-rooted.
We include essays by Scottish and Welsh nationalists, but Labour’s relationship with the SNP is a source of constant unease – the two parties are very close in policy terms but the mistrust is palpable.
A theme that we touch on in our conclusion is that of national identity. With so much of the focus on Scottish and Welsh identity and whether such identity can be protected and nurtured under a continuing UK, we speculate on whether a key to this is to give the English a sense of national pride that the Scots have developed so convincingly (and which maybe the English are envious of?). If all four constituent nations could have concrete symbols of national pride, we could all celebrate our patriotism.
This is the broad premise behind The Alternative, a new collection of essays co-edited by the Labour MP Lisa Nandy, the Green MP Caroline Lucas, and me (a Liberal Democrat ex-councillor and parliamentary candidate).
Building a progressive movement that can seriously challenge the Conservatives won’t be easy, especially for those at both ends of the progressive spectrum. Corbynite socialists will baulk at working with people who until recently were in coalition with the Conservatives, while liberals who have spent years trying to break a two-party system won't like being the liberal tendency of a broad progressive church.
And in places like Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle, the differences need to remain so there is a democratic counterweight to Labour dominance.
But it can happen, and it’s an essentially positive project. We started the process of the progressives working together, not because we felt we had to but because we wanted to.
With so much of the focus on Scottish and Welsh identity and whether such identity can be protected and nurtured under a continuing UK, we speculate on whether a key to this is to give the English a sense of national pride that the Scots have developed so convincingly (and which maybe the English are envious of?).
We are not a coalition of losers, but a group of people who profoundly believe political pluralism delivers better answers. That’s why the theme running through The Alternative is an optimistic one: a progressive alliance isn’t a second-best option but a recognition that a negotiated future, drawing on the best of progressive political traditions, is more likely to point us to better results.
If we want a better society – in whatever boundaries we draw – we need to explore new ways of working together. What’s needed is a realignment of minds – and an awful lot of Britain’s future depends on whether it can happen.
You can buy a copy of The Alternative here.
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