As leader of the UK's largest trade union, Unison general secretary Andrea Egan has issued a stark warning: if Labour does not fundamentally change course, it may be facing its final term in government. In the wake of disastrous local election results, Egan argues that the party must reconnect with the labour movement that created it over a century ago.
Existential Threat
Egan describes the current situation as an existential threat engineered by Labour's own leadership. She criticizes the focus on leadership speculation, insisting the real debate should be about saving the party from oblivion. Labour, she says, has strayed far from its founding mission to represent the working class and organized labor.
Electoral Coalition in Tatters
The breaking apart of Labour's base has been gradual, with nearly five million votes lost between 1997 and 2010, and the lowest vote share for a winning party in modern history at the last general election. Egan accuses Prime Minister Keir Starmer of accelerating this decline by treating traditional supporters with contempt, echoing Peter Mandelson's infamous remark that they have 'nowhere else to go.'
Starmer has transformed Labour from a mass social democratic party into a brittle elite club, detached from workers and communities. The path from private lobbyist to Labour MP is now a well-trodden career route, while millions of progressive voters have been written off as extremists.
Missed Opportunities
While acknowledging some progress, such as a historic package strengthening workers' rights, Egan notes the lack of fundamental shifts like sectoral collective bargaining. Instead of overturning a system that concentrates wealth and power, Labour has tinkered at the edges, making a virtue of being a sensible 'centre' against two extremes. The local election map, where green or turquoise have replaced red in many areas, shows this approach is suicidal.
Rise of Greens and Reform
The Greens have gained support by defending progressive values Starmer has abandoned, such as defending migrants and opposing Israel's genocide. However, Egan warns that the most likely consequence of Labour's collapse is a Reform government that would reduce union and worker rights and deport people. The extinction of Labour as a major force would be disastrous.
Radical Policy Rethink Needed
Time is short, and a radical policy rethink is necessary. Egan calls for repairing public services by taxing extreme wealth, restoring pay for public service heroes like nurses and care workers, and fulfilling promises such as the 'biggest wave of insourcing of public services for a generation.' She condemns profiteering vultures siphoning cash from struggling services like the NHS.
Whoever leads Labour must break with the 'terrible trio' of economic orthodoxy, militarism, and pandering to racist nationalism. This means defying Treasury blocks on public investment, investing in schools and hospitals instead of US weapons, and ending migrant-bashing and crackdowns on protest rights.
Root-and-Branch Change
Egan emphasizes that these are the bare minimum. If Labour is to avoid being the last ever Labour government, root-and-branch changes are required. The fates of Labour and the labour movement are intertwined, and the political death of the former would be catastrophic for the latter. Labour's best hope lies in returning to its founding purpose: advancing the cause of working people.
