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

AN open letter to Sir Keir Starmer

Dear Sir Keir,

Like many others in this country, I cannot wait for the removal of this Tory government, a government that has inflicted unprecedented damage to our economy, society and democracy.

And yet my faith that an incoming Labour government will herald a new dawn has recently been shaken and has led me to pose a question that I never thought I would ask: “Will a future Labour government be significantly different from the current Tory administration?”

Of late you have rowed back on a number of commitments, most importantly the proposed investment in a green economic transformation and investment in tackling the issues of child and family support.

You have also stated that on pay you would reject the School Teachers’ Review Body recommendations.

Now the espoused reason has been one of “financial prudence” and while no one wants a return to the irresponsible economic and fiscal lunacy of the Liz Truss administration, the legacy of 13 years of Tory misrule is going to require more than cautious tinkering and blind adherence to the outmoded and exploitative, economic and fiscal ideologies that gave us austerity, rising inequality and child poverty and collapse in public services.

Either Labour believes in these ideologies and will slavishly follow them when in office, or it is too frightened to tackle them head-on and make the case for why a more radical alternative is necessary. Both are equally worrying.

Another major cause for concern is Labour’s support for democracy and our rights to protest, strike and participate in fair and open elections where every citizen’s vote counts.

The draconian legislation introduced by this government has curtailed so many of our rights; but far from opposing it, Labour has at times enabled it to pass (Labour’s recent abstention on the amendment to the Public Order Bill giving the police unbridled powers to determine what might constitute a “disruptive protest” being a case in point). This is extremely worrying.

Either Labour does not have the courage to stand up to the assault on our democracy, instead choosing to pander to the right-wing press, or it has a hidden agenda.

And the disenfranchisement of voters doesn’t stop with voter ID; our current first-past-the-post system is deeply flawed, hands disproportionate advantage to the Tories, and means that many voters are rendered voiceless; yet you persistently ignore the demands from Labour Party members and the general public to back proportional representation and electoral reform.

The country is crying out for courageous, transformative leadership but it is increasingly looking as if Labour isn’t up to the task.

Economic, social, and democratic, reform is urgently needed to restore our country’s fortunes and this will take courage, persistence and a compelling unifying vision; otherwise the best you can hope for is a single term in office before a resurgent – and possibly even more right-wing and authoritarian – Tory party regains control in the next general election but one (at which point you will realise, too late, that your failure to embrace proportional representation has come back to bite you)!

The citizens of this country deserve better and they need to know that a future Labour government will not simply be a pale blue imitation of the Tories.

But that is increasingly looking like what we will get!