MANCHESTER — Mathew Lawrence and Mark McVitie published a joint essay in the New Statesman on Tuesday calling for the Labour Party to move beyond internal factionalism and build a unified economic agenda centered on lowering everyday costs and strengthening state capacity. The two policy figures, who previously authored competing essays aligned with different wings of the party, argued that Labour’s future depends on embracing a shared diagnosis of Britain’s economic stagnation and forging a new consensus.
Lawrence, director of Common Wealth and an influential ally of Andy Burnham, and McVitie, director of the Labour Growth Group, said Labour must reject labels such as blue Labour, new Labour, and soft left. They urged the party to find common ground in opposing high everyday costs and what they described as predatory capitalism. “Our diagnosis is the same. Britain pays too much for the basics because the state has lost control of the foundations ordinary life and enterprise both depend on,” they wrote in their joint essay.
Mark McVitie said the previous week had shown how quickly serious debate about the country’s future gets pulled back into “Labour’s old tribal arguments.” He added, “Mat and I think those arguments are exhausted, and we’re interested in what comes next. We came from different starting points and arrived at the same place, a politics built around cheaper essentials, a capable state and rewarded work.” He also warned, “Something new is forming here, the underpinnings of a serious political and economic project, in our work and elsewhere. The question for the party will be whether it grasps hold of that or digs in to fight yesterday’s battles.”
Mathew Lawrence emphasized the need for open debate within Labour, stating, “Forging that agenda requires the robust testing of ideas and a spirit of pluralism and open debate that was missing. If Labour is to successfully reset, it needs that now, more than ever.” He cautioned, however, that “but that is not a recipe for damaging division or indulgent introspection.” Lawrence also criticized what he called a “false calm” during the party’s time in opposition, saying it had hindered the government’s ability to function effectively.
In their essay, Lawrence and McVitie declared that “market fundamentalism versus blanket state control is the last war. Those who would refight it are wasting time this country simply does not have. The old loyalties were made for a world that has gone. The opportunity before us is to leave them there and build something new, equal to the moment and worthy of the British people.” They also said any future prime minister must grapple with serious policy rather than the “desert of ideas” they believe characterized Labour while in opposition.