Thinking in Straight Lines

 

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With people’s attitudes swinging in Labour's favour on a range of social issues, why do we keep failing to win a general election?

The analysis suggests that while most people share common values there is a distinction in how we express and conceptualise them.

Direct reasoning: Favours common senses, agency based explanations rooted in how the situation looks from one perspective and what that viewer can do about it.

Systemic reasoning: Looks for connections and complexities, is more concerned with root causes, and often suggests one must solve one problem before one can solve another.

Most people use of a mix of both, and various factors will explain why we lean towards one or the other, with those who have gone through higher education (for example) favouring systemic reasoning.

But Labour recently has become totally dominated by systemic reasoning. We struggle to communicate in any other terms. This has pushed large swathes of the electorate who are more direct, into the arms of Boris Johnson and the conservatives.

But this can can change and the report sets out how we can adjust our policy and messaging to appeal to the people in England in particular who have left the party – without compromising our values or vision.

Labour and the Past, Present and Future of Work

 

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The Labour Party has been successful in the past at offering both change and consensus around a changing economy and world of work. To do so again though, we need the Labour Party needs a clear, positive, vision that can engage with the hopes of workers present and past, young and old.

This vision must be optimistic, focusing on tangible future benefits. 

It must go beyond stale repetitions of what the party is against, and not be hung up on impossible promises to restore what has been lost in previous decades.

Progressive Britain have partnered with a leading academic and trade unionist to publish this paper, which is part of building that vision – setting out how Labour has grasped the politics of work in the past, the challenges of today and the electoral and moral victories than can be won should the party get it right now.

Rebuilding Labour and The Nation

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Does Labour have a chance at the next general election? Where do voters like the party’s offer and where does it need to strengthen it’s message?

In this report, Opinium pollster Chris Curtis sets out the challenge and the potential for Labour. He finds that Labour has closed the gap on the Conservatives since 2019 but must do more to show it has changed and inspire confidence with voters – especially those who switched to the Conservatives for the first time that year.