In the mean time, Labour is in opposition and has to act as an responsible opposition - call the Government to account for the actions it does (or does not do) in governing the country.
Labour achieved a lot in its 13 years in power, there is much to be proud of, but there were a lot of mistakes made and a lot of opportunities that were missed over this period. It is the nature of people that they remember the problems that Labour had, and accept (without further thought) the good outcomes as being what is expected. This is, of course, what the Coalition Government is doing as well - it is building its "big society" on the improvements that Labour achieved while it was in power.
Labour needs to do 4 things over the next 4 years, and it has to do these things at the same time:
- Remind the voters of the achievements of the last Labour Government,
- Hold the current Coalition Government to account for its activities in power,
- Put forward a vision for Britain for the next 5 years (2015-2020) that voters understand, and
- Convince the majority of Britains that Labour is ready for government, and can be trusted as the next government.
Given the Coalition Government's policy of deficit reduction, it is even more vital for Labour to watch what is happening out in the constituencies - to make sure that the budget cuts are not hurting the poor and that all arms of government are delivering the best service possible.
Success in this role is usually seen in terms of U-turns by Government, ministers being forced to drop policies and even changes in ministers but this is not a victory. To quote the words of Winston Churchill, "Wars are not won by evacuations" (http://goo.gl/FB4iG) and elections are not won by showing how inept, unrealistic or uncaring the Government are. Elections are won by parties convincing the voting public that they have a disticnt vision, and that, as a party, they can be trusted to run the business of Britain.
Therefore the "policy revision" is an important process of the pathway to 2015 - Labour needs policies that are suitable and relevant to Britain of the 21st century - Britain of 2015, and not Britain of the past.
As well as having the right policies, Labour also needs to convince the public that they can trust Labour as government. This means that Labour has only 1-2 years to build the right shadow cabinet team, because they will need the following 2-3 years to build their reputation as being potential managers of Briatain.
Labour has a lot to be proud of, but there are a number of areas where Labour's record is not that good. One area, that is showing up now, is in the area of law and order and civil liberties. Here, Labour rightly stands accused of being too authoritarian, of giving the authorities too much power - powers like the "stop & search", control orders, CCTV coverage etc. Here Labour needs to learn its lessons, show the voters that it has learnt its lessons, move on to more sensible policies.
Other areas include immigration and housing where Labour lost touch with the ordinary person, In a number of areas, (including the deficit), Labour's record needs to be corrected. Too many of the people do not fully understand what happened and of course the current Government is exploiting this fact for ntheir own benefit. Too many people believe that the current spending cuts are "the cuts we had to have".
Most of all, Labour needs to build up trust - for all the Tories hot air, they have essentially done exactly what they said they were going to do (with some notable exceptions), and the Voters knew exactly what they were getting when they voted for Tory in 2010. The same cannot be said for the Liberal Democrats, but the polls show what happens when a party breaks trust with the electorate.
Therefore, if Labour wants to win in 2015, it has a long way to go in developing relevant policies, convincing the electorate that Labour can be trusted with power and finally, ensuring that the voters truly understand the legacy that Labour left the country while it was in power.
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