Member News
A leading Labour MP has said the party has “no compelling case for re-election," and needs to fundamentally re-examine its identity.
At an event last night organised left-wing pressure group Compass, Jon Cruddas called for a radical overhaul of the taxation system, including the index-linking of benefits, pensions and the minimum wage.
Cruddas, who came to the attention of many in the party when he came third in the race for deputy leader in 2007, questioned what Labour stands for.
“There are plenty of initiatives and announcements, but no sense of animating purpose - and thus, as yet, no compelling case for re-election," he said.
He claimed there is a danger that Labour is “drifting into catastrophe”.
"A sense of loss pervades the Labour Party, not just power sliding away but a loss of identity,” he said.
"Whether Labour remains in government or returns to opposition, we need a fundamental re-examination of our identity and the kind of society that we hope to create.”
Cruddas expressed frustration at Labour’s inability to fight the Tories and ‘defend’ society from a Conservative government.
"For me the question is why can we not lay a glove on them?” he asked. “We are mute.”
Cruddas claimed Labour has lost “our language, our empathy, our generosity; because we have retreated into a philosophical framework of the right".
He called on the government to scrap the £25bn renewal of the Trident nuclear programme, focus on working class voters and an end to airport expansion.
"This is about protecting the most vulnerable through proudly defending a notion of a modern social democracy," he said.
"It is only be returning to our traditions, our language and our radicalism that we can confront this very dangerous force."
James Purnell, who called on Gordon Brown to stand down as prime minister when he resigned from the cabinet in June, also spoke at the Compass meeting.
He described Cruddas’ speech as “brilliant.”
There has been speculation that the two men could stand for the leadership after the general election as a left-wing “dream team”.
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd