Labour’s future.

The ebook is the outcome of a seminar on Labour’s future which brought together people associated with different perspectives within the Labour Party, including people who have identified with the New Labour project as well as those who have, often vehemently, opposed it. The ebook explores what common ground might exist between the different politics and seeks to identify a political axis around which to build cross-party political renewal. There are disagreements about how to interpret New Labour’s record in office. There are some sharp differences of opinion about the role of markets, about welfare reform, and about how to approach the Coalition government’s austerity package. But there is a shared agenda around pluralism, the need to reform the party, and for national democratic and electoral reform. There is recognition that Labour needs to develop a new political economy and a new model of a social and democratic state. The ebook argues that Labour has to evolve a more ethical and emotional language for its politics, reviving its traditions to become once again the party of association and mutualism, rather than of a centralising and controlling state.
This ebook brings together a range of contributors from a wide variety of political positions, all of whom are trying to think about what the future holds for Labour, and how we can build a renewed momentum for social justice in Britain.

Jonathan Rutherford has also written an introduction to this book and a final chapter entitled 'On the future of labour'.