After a tough campaign, the Labour party candidate Kim Leadbeater secured a win in the Batley and Spen by-election by a margin of only 323 votes, or 0.9% of the vote share. It was heart-warming to see Leadbeater gain the seat previously held by her sister Jo Cox, before her tragic murder.  I think all of the credit for the win should go to Leadbeater for running a hopeful and optimistic campaign, which is sadly a rarity in today’s politics, which seems to be more focused on gossip and whether someone likes John Lewis. But why was the race so close?  Batley and Spen has long been seen as a safe seat in the ‘red wall,’ and only two years ago Labour won by a margin of over 2,000 votes, so what changed? 

There are many reasons why the Conservative Party are seemingly making gains throughout the country in areas where no one thought they could. This could be because people are feeling relieved and grateful now that they have had their Covid-19 vaccines, they may be thanking the current government for overseeing this. However, I will focus on the Labour party and consider why they are either losing, or just scraping a win, in these seats previously thought to be ‘safe.’

I would argue the current leadership of the party has been dealt a tough hand, trying to combat an ever-strengthening Conservative party. As a result, just holding onto a safe seat is seen as a great success, especially after the Hartlepool by-election. Kier Starmer hailed the narrow win of Batley and Spen as a ‘fantastic result’  and declared ‘Labour is back’ despite the narrow and closing margin. But is just scraping by in a safe seat really fantastic? I do not think so. I do not think the country thinks so either. 

I would say one of the more pressing reasons why we are witnessing such poor results for the Labour party is an overwhelming lack of clarity. To me, the Labour party seem to merely oppose everything the Conservatives say or do (which may seem fine, considering they are, after all, the opposition). However, I think they need to take a stand and be much more definitive and clear in communicating what they actually stand for. Is it ‘For the Many Not The Few,’ or merely ‘I’m not Boris?’ You can say what you like about Jeremy Corbyn, but he did not have this issue of clarity; he was clear about what he believed in and he stuck by it. ‘Starmerism’, however, is a much less clear entity.

It is all well and good saying what is going wrong with the Labour party, but what else can they do to improve their results and ‘build back better’ their level of support? I think the best way to do this, whilst simultaneously addressing the aforementioned issue of seemingly not standing for anything, is placing a notable emphasis on a single, bold, and innovative policy that could instantly create associations with the party, so that people will know what they are voting for. 

For me, I think the policy Labour should adopt as their flagship proposal is a Universal Basic Income (UBI). No policy will solve all of the nation’s issues, but I think a UBI would come close. A Universal Basic Income would address many of the social and economic issues that people are facing today. It would improve mental health, as people would be less stressed about finances and it would also grow the economy as when people have more money, they spend more.  You can read more about the successes of UBI topic here, or take a glance at Andrew Yang’s presidential campaign as a case-study of how successful a campaign can be when a Universal Basic Income is placed at its core – success the Labour party would surely find appealing. 

So, to conclude, I think there is still hope for the Labour party. It was nice to see Leadbeater win, especially considering the circumstances. Yet, I still think the Labour party needs to change and be much more clear about what they actually stand for. One way of doing this would be to adopt a Universal Basic Income as their flagship policy. It would show innovation and also address many of the issues that I believe we face as a nation. The Labour party can realistically do this, they are in Wales, but it remains to be seen if they have the courage to take a stand and truly fight.

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