The Labour Party has become devoid of purpose

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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

The writer is general secretary of the Unite union

By the turn of the 20th century, the trade unions in Britain had decided that they needed a political voice. And so the Labour Party was born. It was built to ensure that the workers had an organisation that would fight for a better deal, and when a Labour government came to power, deliver on that. But the shame and shambles of recent weeks, coupled with the lack of change over the past 18 months, has shown those ideals have been corrupted, most likely irretrievably.

My union, Unite, is historically the biggest affiliate to Labour and still its biggest union funder. If that were not the case, and if a Labour agent arrived tomorrow at our Holborn HQ inviting us to affiliate, we would say “No thanks”. We would tell the messenger that we need a Labour government that shakes the pillars of the status quo so that everyday people are better off. Clearly this government doesn’t do that. And without a clear change in policies, who the leader is won’t matter.

Since the New Labour takeover of the 1990s, the Labour Party has become rootless and devoid of purpose. The pendulum has swung wildly depending upon which faction is in charge. There is no soul, just warring tribes and power struggles. There is nothing that holds it together other than the electoral system and dislike of the Tory party. As time moves on, it seems inevitable that it will become further disconnected from any central purpose — even more hollowed out. It’s already a family heirloom that no one really wants to keep.

Next year, Unite’s conference will consider our current affiliation to the Labour Party; the mood music right now is to depart. The questions being asked are: what is Labour for and who is it for?

The disgrace of the Mandelson affair will only increase the despair. It symbolises how Labour now stands with the elites in the UK and beyond. It’s another sign of how the party has changed. Peter Mandelson was not leaking secrets to Jeffrey Epstein about a better deal for workers but a better deal for the elites — for City bankers.

But the other outrage is how this dreadful debacle has plunged us into a debate dominated by personalities and not policies. It is action that is crucial, not just the leader. That is merely a cherry on top. This has been forgotten by the Labour Party.

At the start of this week, unity around Starmer seemed to have broken out. It will prove to be a delusion. If the government does not understand that it is real change, and real Labour, that ordinary people want, then the rot will continue.

Rachel Reeves’ Budget spoke volumes. No vision. It delivered for the bond markets and once again for the bankers, while increasing stealth taxes for millions of workers. The Treasury seems mesmerised by so-called fiscal rules — as British industry is left to wither on the vine and our public services face austerity by another name.

The Treasury tells us that we can’t afford investment to save our critical infrastructure — that would jeopardise our fiscal rules. And so, reducing the debt we hold as a percentage of GDP goes before building British industry and our public services. Would we ever have had an NHS if the 1945 Labour government had adopted this worship of fiscal rules? Labour appears to now be Labour in name only.

Whatever the future holds, it seems inevitable that there will be further fundamental shifts in our politics. The collection of parties that broadly adhered to neoliberal policies for decades has failed to deliver on the expectations that they set in the giddy 1990s. An entire generation is left with their aspirations spurned. Overpromising and underdelivering has been the name of the game. Everyday people always pay the price and that is now writ large.

If Labour fails to grasp that basic point and doesn’t move decisively to change course, it will be swept away on the tides of history and trade unions will chart their own course.