Labour’s answer to levelling up? Breaking down barriers

By Nick Forbes CBE, former Member of Keir Starmer’s Shadow Cabinet 

For someone who has been involved in Labour politics my whole life, I now feel a real excitement about the year ahead. There’s no complacency, but the Labour Party now has the best shot at returning to government for the first time in over a decade.  

On election night in 2019 – when my party lost in communities that had voted Labour for decades – it was simply impossible to imagine we would be in this position today. In so many towns and cities across the UK, people felt forgotten and ignored by Labour in Westminster.  

The promise to ‘level-up’ provided a message of hope, but five years on – the reality is that the promise of levelling up has not been fulfilled by the Conservative government.  

But it is simply not good enough to say the government has failed on levelling up. My party needs answers too. So, what is Labour’s answer to levelling up?

Last year, Keir Starmer set out his five ‘Missions’ for government. Most of these are focused around clear, departmental-specific policy objectives – economic growth, health, green energy, and tackling crime.

The fifth and final Mission, however, is arguably the most important for a future Labour government – breaking down barriers.

Whilst my party has set out some clear, immediate objectives around this Mission to improve education, such as the vitally important pledge to put a specialist teacher in every classroom, I’d argue the Mission to break down the barriers to opportunity is the most radical. It will be the Labour Party’s answer to levelling up.   

For a party founded out of the trade union movement – opportunity is everything.  

Boris Johnson’s levelling up promises were explicitly designed to mean everything to everyone. People who voted Conservative for the first time in 2019 expected to see radical new investment in their local communities – new jobs, opportunities for young people, investment in roads and local transport infrastructure.  

But five years on, that has – largely – not been delivered.  

It isn’t good enough for the Labour Party to say the government has failed. My party needs practical, deliverable and yet equally radical ideas to deliver on the hopes of those who believed in levelling up in 2019.  

So, for the next Labour government, it needs to focus on what really matters to people when it comes to breaking down barriers to opportunity. That means modern childcare, training and apprenticeship programmes for our young people, good upskilling, and progression opportunities – particularly for those who are at risk of being displaced by new technology.  

The reality is that a Labour government will come to power with one of the toughest economic situations my party has faced since 1945. There simply won’t be the money available to invest in local communities.  

Breaking down barriers also means working in partnership with good business to secure good investment in local communities. Doing so will take strong foundations and working with the best of British employers, underpinned by a growing and vibrant economy.  

For my part, since stepping down, that’s what I’ve been doing, and it’s why today I am formally launching the Breaking Down Barriers Commission. The Commission, part of the Purpose Coalition, is working with progressive employers and innovative leaders including Curtins, Northern Gas Networks, Hitachi and more, to explore and consider their role in society.   

These organisations accept their duties as moral employers in society, but they also want and need a government they can work in partnership with – something that simply isn’t the case today.  

If a Labour government wants to show how it can and is delivering on the promises made in 2019 to level up, it is going to require both investment in government to break down barriers to opportunity and working in close partnership with businesses and wider society to deliver the jobs, investment and opportunities people want to see.   

These businesses accept their moral duties as employers in society, but also want to work in partnership with a government that provides the strong economic foundations to operate in.  

The Labour Party that will be presented to voters this year is one that is radically different to that of 2019 – focused on the priorities of working people across the country. People in 2019 voted for levelling up, and by breaking down barriers to opportunity, the Labour Party must show how it is delivering on the hopes and aspirations of voters across the country.