Social mobility should be ‘core’ of a third term, says Milburn
Alan Milburn today said that reinvigorating social mobility should be “at the core” of the Labour Party’s agenda for a third term.
Speaking in London he argued that the Labour government had “laid the foundations” to realise this ambition over the last seven years.
Mr Milburn, who will be in charge of Labour’s election strategy, said Britain was moving ahead after decades of falling behind and it was doing so under “a progressive party”, which was “dominating the centre ground and forcing our opponents to the Right”.
He told the Institute of Public Policy Research: “Put these two trends together and what you have is a position where we can go into this next general election with a sense of optimism about the future because we know Britain is working because New Labour is working.”
Mr Milburn, who sits on the Cabinet as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, was addressing a seminar hosted by the IPPR on inequality, mobility and opportunity, which was also attended by Cabinet Office Minister Ruth Kelly.
While progress had been made in ensuring equality of opportunity, it was “nowhere near enough”.
The slowdown in social mobility should matter to New Labour for three reasons, he said: because the result of declining social mobility was entrenched inequality; Britain’s success in a globally competitive economy depended on unlocking the talents of all its people; and a slowing down in social mobility was “not just an issue for those at the very bottom of the social order”.
“That is why social mobility should be our cause on the centre-left,” he said.
Mr Milburn maintained it would be difficult to reinvigorate social mobility because many of the determinants of life chances – genetics, family life, social attitudes – were “way beyond the control of government”.
Where the Government could make a difference, it had to adopt an approach that was “distinct from the old Left model of redistribution” and it would require “a reappraisal of the Left’s traditional conception of equality”.
Mr Milburn advocated an approach that tackled the roots of social inequality not its symptoms before it became entrenched and inhibited life-chances.
Fairness in life chances required an active state and active citizens, he continued, and as such criticised the Conservative Party’s plans to roll back the State. Reforming the State should be the Labour Party’s agenda for a third term.
“In my view it should focus on developing what I call new routes to social justice. First, skills and employability. Second, education and childcare. Third, power firmly in the hands of local communities. Fourth, asset and especially home ownership.”
He characterised the next General Election as being a choice between “those who believe more people can make the grade” and “those who want to bang shut the doors of opportunity”.
