Signs of what can be
It’s Labour’s turn to write our Friday Politics column, with Joshua Osborne, borough councillor for Downham Old Town Ward, discussing why he believes people want change...
Some might say the recent by-election defeats for the Conservative Government are not promising signs for them but, as always, there are voices offering comfort.
Yes, there was a swing to Labour of 16.4 percentage points in Kingswood, South Gloucestershire. But, some say, turnout had fallen - and in the actual election the temporarily disaffected would never actually vote for Labour. Or something bizarre might happen like public services suddenly working well.
Yet in May 1997, a few months after the February 27 Wirral South byelection and its swing of 17.2 points to Labour, the 1997 General Election took place. On a higher turnout, the Conservative vote there fell 14.4 points on 1992, the Labour vote rose 16.3 points, and 418 Labour MPs were elected nationally.
This is why I tend to ignore the voices casting doubt on the by-elections like Kingswood and Wellingborough that have consistently shown the Labour Party’s strength. Rather than reaching for reasons why they or the polls do not matter, we should think why people want change.
The food banks in Lynn and Downham have faced huge demand over the past few years. So many people are desperate because of matters out of their control - struggling to pay for their rent, heating, transport and food for their children.
The Trussell Trust staff and volunteers work so hard to help them, like many across West Norfolk, but more must be done nationally. Last year the Child Poverty Action Group said 71 per cent of the 4.2 million children in relative poverty lived in families where someone was in work, so low unemployment figures alone cannot be the only solution.
We are in a national housing crisis which requires a national response to support overstretched local authorities to ensure people have homes. Labour’s plan to create GB Energy will reduce our carbon emissions through renewables and help ensure homes are warm and bills lower in the long term.
Building a better Britain, another Labour pledge, will also help boost our economic growth, one of the key missions Keir Starmer has set out.
Our vital education system has often struggled for resources, with the National Education Union’s School Cuts site showing that schools such as King’s Lynn Academy, Springwood and KES have in real terms lost respectively £802, £393 and £106 per pupil since 2010-11.
The fiscal woes delivered by 14 years of Tory rule have made a focus on growing our economy so important. But a Labour Government will also make the right choices by charging VAT on private school fees in order to help the state schools that 93 per cent of children attend.
Similarly, abolishing non-dom tax loopholes will provide extra funds for our NHS and dentistry services, in which the people of West Norfolk have struggled to find care.
These are some of the issues that will decide this year’s general election. We face great challenges, but must not give up on trying solving them. That is largely what the Government has done in recent years, passing little substantive legislation. There are books to be sold to American conservatives after all...
But there is an alternative, like the hardworking Breckland councillor Terry Jermy – Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Liz Truss’s seat of South West Norfolk. Labour will certainly have to overturn many big majorities but - looking back to 1997, the year I was born - it is worth reflecting on the North West Norfolk result that year. If you want change in 2024, vote Labour, and we can win.
