Labour need policies beyond patriotism to win back voters – Jayne Dowle

If only it was that simple. This sounds like mere window-dressing to me. More worryingly, it points to a paucity of big ideas from Her Majesty’s Opposition. Eulogising ‘veterans’ whilst failing to come up with any coherent plan for better mental health services, dealing with record levels of homelessness and tackling unemployment, for instance, is an insult.

What does all this suggest? That it is okay for those who have fought for their country to be wheeled out for publicity purposes, yet too much of a stretch to talk about what their very specific issues and needs might be?

And as for ‘dressing smartly’. Well yes, the Labour far left had an image problem long before Jeremy Corbyn and his anorak turned up at the Cenotaph; older readers will recall Michael Foot and his donkey jacket.

However, these days, from what I see on my television screen at least, it’s not Labour who should be worried about its senior politicians struggling to look neat and tidy.

And then there is the flag, the contentious flag. It’s not enough for Labour to adopt the red, white and blue and basically, ape the Government’s easy show of nationalism. A bigger priority, surely, would be for us to see more of Sir Keir Starmer and hear something of his vision. Does he have one? This is the question gaining momentum and worrying Labour insiders.

I sense nothing challenging or progressive in draping him in the flag. Indeed, in multi-cultural Great Britain, it is far too simplistic and completely misses many of the points being debated in our communities.

It also carries the danger of sowing yet further division. The flag may appear in the background at every Downing Street briefing and propped up by the bookshelves of every government minister, but it is by no means a universal thing.

All politicians, not just Labour ones, would do well to accept that there are many communities which regard the Union Flag as the very opposite of a force for good, thanks to its previous association with a particularly nasty form of British nationalism.

In addition, there are also many left-leaning, Europe-friendly individuals who find a fervent display of ‘Great’ Britain un-nerving.

Sir Keir was swift to distance himself from the report, pointing out that only Labour will be responsible for devising Labour policy and this was just one of many ideas under consideration.

What a shame. A healthy and invigorating debate about patriotism and the flag would have been just the thing to liven up these dreary February days.

It would be interesting to find out what Sir Keir and other senior Labour figures really think about the symbol of national unity and learn how they might intend to foster our global identity in a challenging post-Brexit world.

Yet again he’s ducked the opportunity and remains firmly stuck on the fence. Will he ever get off it? That’s the question that most of us want the answer to.

At the start of the pandemic, almost 12 months ago, Sir Keir was right to support the Government. This was an unprecedented time and it called for unity. There are many who also thought it called for a temporary cross-party national government of all the talents, but that never happened.

Anyway, I digress. The point is that a year is certainly a very long time in politics. Labour has not only failed to impress with its own policy ideas, but has missed a series of opportunities to take the Government to task on a relentless string of disasters; the fiasco that is schools, squandered billions on Test and Trace, and now, airport quarantine.

What’s more, thanks to efforts of the stalwart and vastly under-funded NHS and public-spirited volunteers, this Government is now basking in the glory of the vaccine roll-out.

It’s not enough for Labour to fall back on easy assumptions about patriotism and a whole lot else. Perhaps the leader would do better to listen to his MPs who will tell him what really concerns voters and what he should do in response. He has no chance of “rebuilding our country” after an election victory, as he promised in a party political broadcast last week, without putting in the spade-work first.

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