As we move closer to the election, focus will inevitably shift to the manifestos of the main parties. With a Labour victory looking increasingly likely, I have reviewed some previous Labour manifestos that resulted in a Labour government. What do these manifestos tell us about what constitutes a successful set of proposals, and looking forward, a possible future direction for a Starmer government?
Vision tempered with honesty
The current sociopolitical situation suggests that the government that takes office at the end of 2024 will inherit a dire economic situation, worse than the one that confronted the incoming coalition government of 2010. With this in mind, I have chosen to start with the 1945 postwar Labour manifesto. World War II had left the nation in an equally challenging, if not worse, economic situation as it entered the post-war era in late 1945. Rationing had to continue for several years after the war, and the exchequer had to adjust from a wartime to a peacetime economy.
The post second world war Labour manifesto is striking in its brevity and its clarity. It begins by setting the context the incoming government will inherit and how those who have fought both at home and abroad deserve a better future. It also looks back to the poverty of the 1930s and the economic slumps after the first world war that had made life hard for the majority of people. The first section ends with these words:
“The Labour Party makes no baseless promises. The future will not be easy. But this time the peace must be won.”
Perhaps Labour could use this quote in its 2024 manifesto, and alongside some updated information about the issues facing the nation today.
Serving the people
Interestingly the next section talks about what the election should be about; serving the people of the UK as effectively as they had served the nation during the war: “the people want food, work and homes”. The strong moral purpose is evident. It isn’t enough just to say that you want an abstract prosperity, there also needs to be a clear plan and pathway to the concrete results of that achievement. The Labour manifesto makes this very clear: full employment and productivity alongside a commitment to “good wages, social services and insurance and taxation which bears less heavily on low income groups”.
There follows a commitment to investment in essential industries and building more houses, schools and hospitals. This is ambitious and bold. The Labour Party in 2024 needs to be equally bold and to set out a clear strategy for long term prosperity in a contemporary context.
The next section clearly outlines the case for the nationalisation of key industries like fuel and power and transport. In 2024 it is clear that the model of Thatcherite privatisation has failed, so there is a clear need to rebuild this idea in the modern context. That may not mean wholesale nationalisation in the same manner as 1945, but it could mean a strong public voice and a clear national industrial strategy, in particular, strong and effective regulation of key utilities such as power and water. People also need effective, affordable public transport and decent homes. The current economic model has failed to provide any of these, so it is clear that we now need to do things differently.
Planning the future
The section on food and agriculture is interesting to read but provides few lessons for 2024. In the world of rationing this was clearly effective planning, but now we should be considering how to procure healthy food for all, which means developing sustainable agriculture at home and effective trade deals abroad. It is essential that within this endeavour, the incoming government makes a start on repairing the immense damage caused by Brexit.
The rest of the manifesto covers a range of key areas from education to land use but the two that provide most lessons for a new Labour government are the sections on Housing and the NHS. On housing it states the need for land planning and drastic action to ensure an efficient building industry. It puts this squarely in the context of good town planning, pleasant surroundings, attractive layouts, efficient utility services, including the necessary transport facilities.
In one short paragraph the case for a National Health Service free at the point of delivery for all is outlined. It’s easy to forget just how far-reaching, innovative and radical this proposal was in 1945. A new Labour government must commit to renewing this pledge in a way which is appropriate to the more complex health and social care landscape of the 21st century.
Balancing the budget
The 1945 Labour manifesto was bold but there was a recognition that welfare, health and education programmes are costly things. As they argue, “only an efficient and prosperous nation can afford them in full measure”.
With nearly 80 years of hindsight, what impresses me most about the 1945 manifesto here is that so much of what it set out was actually achieved. I believe that the Labour Party of 2024 could learn from this to gain the courage to be equally bold and pragmatic.
Improving living standards for all will inevitably take time, as the Labour Party of 1945 warned the public, but nevertheless, there has to be a vision of what is required, and the necessary steps needed to achieve this. The Brexit and Covid battered voters of 2024 will equally respond to a similar invocation of the strong spirit of social justice that was so clearly outlined in 1945. And, if Starmer’s Labour are also fortunate enough to win by a landslide like that of 1945, they should make full use of it to restore the prosperity and social justice of the nation, and their planning should similarly make it plain that how they would intend to develop their vision over two further terms.
Harold Wilson’s 1964 manifesto is far less ambitious in scope than the 1945 manifesto but it nevertheless contains some interesting ideas and lessons in outlining a proposal for national renewal for the Labour Party of 2024. It’s a miracle that Wilson managed to enact any of it with a majority of four seats.
Building the future
Wilson governed with a tiny majority of four seats, so went on to call a further election in 1966. The Labour manifesto for the 1966 election begins by detailing the mess that the Labour government inherited in 1964 with a record deficit and rising prices, in times similar to our own. Consequently, this manifesto could have been written by Rachel Reeves, with its emphasis upon caution and the stress on the need for fiscal responsibility. There was not much content to get the pulse racing there with its huge stress on paying our way and improving productivity. There is however a commitment to a big increase in house building over five years. This commitment is likely to feature in a 2024 Labour manifesto too.
In education there is a commitment to reduce class sizes and to embark on a huge school building programme. There is also a commitment to push ahead in abolishing the 11+. The greatest innovations that have left a legacy into today’s education landscape are the proposals for the Open University and the Arts Council. Wilson went on to win the 1966 election with a comfortable majority of 98 seats.
Overall, I would describe the 1960s Labour manifestos as workmanlike and competent but far from visionary. In spite of this, they did manage to bring about significant change.
The liberal social reforms championed by Roy Jenkins paved the way for new laws to decriminalise homosexuality and to abolish the death penalty. There were laws to liberalise divorce and make abortion legal. It is perhaps these things which have had the most profound long-term effects.
The 1970s brought yet more economic turmoil to confront. The Conservatives won the election of 1970, and by 1974 the high cost of energy and questions about the UK’s commercial relationship with Europe were the most compelling political issues that sat at the heart of the February 1974 election manifestos. Again, the hung parliament that followed gave little scope for much to be implemented. Another election in October of 1974 produced a majority of three for Labour, which did not allow the incoming Labour government to get very much done.
New century, new Labour: the third way experiment
“Education, Education, Education.” This was the rallying cry from Tony Blair in 1997. The 1997 Labour manifesto firmly stamps the imprint of New Labour, neither old left nor Conservative right but a ‘third way’. It talks of a Britain with better schools and better hospitals. What’s most striking reading it with hindsight is its language of community cohesion and of bringing people together, “I want a Britain that we all feel part of, in whose future we all have a stake”. The manifesto states that Labour want “to govern in the interests of the many, the broad majority who work hard, play by the rules, pay their dues”. The New Labour vision is clear the politics of envy are out and social justice is in.
Given what the 1997 government achieved, its manifesto paragraphs on education and health seem quite modest. In 2001 Labour’s confidence had grown enough to make very specific pledges in their manifesto on world-class public services. The 2005 Labour manifesto remained strong on reducing poverty and on public services but it seemed less optimistic and visionary than the previous manifestos. Perhaps in the wake of the Iraq war and two terms in government? New Labour were now struggling to sound new and fresh. However, most political leaders would be happy with a third victory for their party, even with a reduced majority.
Lessons from the past
What are the lessons for Labour from all these manifestos? To me, there are three essential lessons. The first is to set out a bold long-term vision and to convey a need to get things done. Secondly, emphasise bringing people together and building community. Don’t give in to the politics of hate and division. Lastly, show that improving the economy will improve things for everybody.
In the wake of Brexit and Covid, two enormous events for the British public, Labour must attempt to capture the great spirit and reforming zeal of 1945; harness the social justice of the Wilson governments that gave us the Open University and socially liberal reforms; capture the energy of New Labour with its commitment to public services and social justice. Above all, they must demonstrate that a Labour government will be able to change the current narrative of decay and despair to one of hope – or as Barack Obama famously said, “Yes we can”.
