The fundamental problem is that this government is appalling at communicating the "why". There is no sense of any big picture thinking. What is the objective that all policy should support? You cant sell anything negative (higher tax etc) unless people understand the end game. There needs to be a simplified central message of renewal and optimism that carries everything else.
People will quickly lose interest in Farage and the boats if they think Labour is actually making things better.
This is great - I hope someone in government reads it!
I will also add that one of the failings of the 'security' theme is that Labour's comms and its policy simply do not align properly. The rhetoric is grandiose, but the actual proposals tend to be relatively minor and watered-down. This mismatch just makes the government look unserious and insincere.
Being able to link the comms to the policy and sustain both as a credible narrative will be key.
This is brilliant. The core mantra and narrative must be about opportunity. and fairness. The story needs to change fast if it’s ever going to turn out to be a best seller. Communications are dire and only memorable for the wrong reasons. Wise words let’s hope they are acted upon. Think #3 is a cracker too!
A more coherent narrative on what the government should be doing than I’ve read in the last year.
Completely agree on a government of opportunity, but almost every policy action of the past year has gone against this. We can’t tax and regulate our way to opportunity. The young face taxes, student debts and housing costs which all limit the opportunities to build lives their parents had. The media obsesses over net migration but rarely talks about emigration and what is driving people seeking opportunities away.
If we are to rebuild the country with opportunity for all, we need to demonstrate the opportunities really are here in the UK and stop the constant drum beat of higher taxes for worse public services which
Changing the Story article has given me a smidgeon of hope that Labour will pay heed to these must-do recommendations.
Like many born in the 1950s, I grafted hard for my family to access higher education and good jobs. I was a mature HE student myself. I am irked by Labour’s constant refrain about hard working people while many pensioners and WASPI women like myself are living in dread of government changes that may leave them poorer, impact their independence by making annual driving tests compulsory and at the same time raise the pension age to 70 and beyond. Will that generation of workers succumb to annual driving tests as well? I look forward to seeing change of direction before 2026.
The proposal is for eye-tests, not driving tests, when people over 70 renew their licence. As usual, it's been twisted on social media to sound like something draconian. Assuming there is a sensible implementation, almost everyone will be able to do this as part of their regular visit to an optician, I should think.
Anger about boats and hotels are the symptom of a deeper problem of people unhappy with their lives and their communities. Fixating on the symptoms gives ground to the Right.
The missing piece is ‘Place’. The message that resonated on Grimsby and Burnley from Johnson and now Farage is that your patch matters, and is being neglected.
We have nothing to say about regional inequality or opportunity. Nothing. The EU was the only driver of regional policy and that vacuum has not been filled.
The Growth mantra is both intellectually and emotionally hollow. There’s enough research to show people don’t understand economic terms. It doesn’t mean anything to people in the abstract, plus it gets us off the hook about creatively thinking about how we achieve it in a meaningful and lasting way. And in that gap Treasury orthodoxy flourishes.
The usual lazy thinking that it’s the comms that’s the problem ignores the fact that we don not have a coherent governing project for change - and everything flows from that
The Discovery Decade project from CASE and Wellcome has been really good on trying to drag government investment away from empty ‘growth’ to a renewed focus on Place.
Agree with a lot of this. Seems clear to me that the problem with the Remain strategy in 2016 was 'security' not 'aspiration', whereas the Leave campaign was the reverse with just enough downplaying of the risks to persuade people to take a punt. A lot of voting decisions are based on vibes and, up to a point, people are prepared to take risks to try something that promises "better" rather than just "not worse". This is always a problem for incumbents, of course, but a great message and some highly visible success (I think you're dead right about stopping the boats) is the only way to deal with that when things are as difficult as they are.
You mentioned digital id cards in passing, but I think they could be a great policy to put Reform on the back foot and begin to reassure the public that the government is taking action. Farage hates the idea of id cards so this would show a clear dividing line and reveal their ‘pseudo’ populist solutions are just rhetoric!
Really enjoyed this, Peter. Feels like the challenge now isn’t just about changing the story, but changing the relationship between politics and people. The old broadcast model is exhausted. What cuts through is proximity, presence and honesty. Leaders willing to be in the tough rooms, listen without judgement and build trust over time. That’s how the story gets written together, not just told from above.
Hello Peter I was born in the early 90s so I'm a child of the New Labour years and I was greatly impressed by your appearance on the "The Rest is Politics" US election special as I thought only you and Dominic Sandbrook really seemed to "get" the factors propelling Trump back into the White House.
I was just reading an article in The Sunday Times that mentioned you are this substack so here I am!
Regarding the returns deal with France doesn't the looming no confidence vote in the French National Assembly in September mean it's highly likely the RN will gain many more seats and the current PM will fall thus jepordising both the current trial agreement and any expansion of the bilateral scheme to meaningful levels?
Personally, perhaps because it aligns with my own concerns and biases, I think immigration both legal and illegal/irregular is on track to be THE defining issue of the next election. The "Boriswave" in both its size and lack of appropriate selection has just rapidly changed many communities and small towns without there being a feeling of consent to the inherent massive cultural changes.
Great piece, much needed and a strong starting point - especially around having a modern, radical and brutally, reforming, vision for government (US dems thinkers like Ezra Klein also discussing) and delivery - the government needs to stop complaining about the civil service and come up with a plan for better delivery from the state asap, as that’s probably the single biggest reason people voted for them; skills and workforce vision and opportunity for joint vision across budget and conference. I’d add a few things to keep building this out…. I’m not yet convinced that ‘opportunity’ is 100pc right… rightly or wrongly a lot of people hear this as welfarism, and much as looking after others is central to the left, the times aren’t right for welfarism of the past at least (Blair n brown had much stronger economy; people are financially scared now and therefore, like it or not, feeling less generous towards others) - so it needs some contemporary nuancing I think. There are 5.5m SME’s in this country, over 90pc of business - what does Labour have to say about what opportunity looks like for them? Finally, I’d say that in addition to the points here about having a bigger more joined up vision to communicate - absolutely key - the government also needs to be bolder and more attention grabbing in its comms, more colloquial, maybe even play a little dirty sometimes. The Boriswave characterisation of the surge in immigration for example, is an opportunity they’ve failed to make enough of. Very finally, party discipline.
This is an invaluable contribution, and I hope it will be widely shared in SW1.
The fundamental problem is that this government is appalling at communicating the "why". There is no sense of any big picture thinking. What is the objective that all policy should support? You cant sell anything negative (higher tax etc) unless people understand the end game. There needs to be a simplified central message of renewal and optimism that carries everything else.
People will quickly lose interest in Farage and the boats if they think Labour is actually making things better.
Slightly more optimistic having read this. Incredibly cogent piece of writing. Thank you. Hope to God it translates into action very soon!
This is great - I hope someone in government reads it!
I will also add that one of the failings of the 'security' theme is that Labour's comms and its policy simply do not align properly. The rhetoric is grandiose, but the actual proposals tend to be relatively minor and watered-down. This mismatch just makes the government look unserious and insincere.
Being able to link the comms to the policy and sustain both as a credible narrative will be key.
This is brilliant. The core mantra and narrative must be about opportunity. and fairness. The story needs to change fast if it’s ever going to turn out to be a best seller. Communications are dire and only memorable for the wrong reasons. Wise words let’s hope they are acted upon. Think #3 is a cracker too!
A more coherent narrative on what the government should be doing than I’ve read in the last year.
Completely agree on a government of opportunity, but almost every policy action of the past year has gone against this. We can’t tax and regulate our way to opportunity. The young face taxes, student debts and housing costs which all limit the opportunities to build lives their parents had. The media obsesses over net migration but rarely talks about emigration and what is driving people seeking opportunities away.
If we are to rebuild the country with opportunity for all, we need to demonstrate the opportunities really are here in the UK and stop the constant drum beat of higher taxes for worse public services which
Is fuelling so much discontent.
Peter Hyman doing what he does best.
Changing the Story article has given me a smidgeon of hope that Labour will pay heed to these must-do recommendations.
Like many born in the 1950s, I grafted hard for my family to access higher education and good jobs. I was a mature HE student myself. I am irked by Labour’s constant refrain about hard working people while many pensioners and WASPI women like myself are living in dread of government changes that may leave them poorer, impact their independence by making annual driving tests compulsory and at the same time raise the pension age to 70 and beyond. Will that generation of workers succumb to annual driving tests as well? I look forward to seeing change of direction before 2026.
The proposal is for eye-tests, not driving tests, when people over 70 renew their licence. As usual, it's been twisted on social media to sound like something draconian. Assuming there is a sensible implementation, almost everyone will be able to do this as part of their regular visit to an optician, I should think.
Anger about boats and hotels are the symptom of a deeper problem of people unhappy with their lives and their communities. Fixating on the symptoms gives ground to the Right.
The missing piece is ‘Place’. The message that resonated on Grimsby and Burnley from Johnson and now Farage is that your patch matters, and is being neglected.
We have nothing to say about regional inequality or opportunity. Nothing. The EU was the only driver of regional policy and that vacuum has not been filled.
The Growth mantra is both intellectually and emotionally hollow. There’s enough research to show people don’t understand economic terms. It doesn’t mean anything to people in the abstract, plus it gets us off the hook about creatively thinking about how we achieve it in a meaningful and lasting way. And in that gap Treasury orthodoxy flourishes.
The usual lazy thinking that it’s the comms that’s the problem ignores the fact that we don not have a coherent governing project for change - and everything flows from that
The Discovery Decade project from CASE and Wellcome has been really good on trying to drag government investment away from empty ‘growth’ to a renewed focus on Place.
Also came to this via the mention in the Times. Thanks for this fresh perspective. 'Opportunity' definitely should be the focus!
Splendid piece. Though don't worry too much about Reform - they are not going back to their constituencies and preparing for Government.
https://desbrown.substack.com/p/cheer-up-reform-uk-are-not-going
Agree with a lot of this. Seems clear to me that the problem with the Remain strategy in 2016 was 'security' not 'aspiration', whereas the Leave campaign was the reverse with just enough downplaying of the risks to persuade people to take a punt. A lot of voting decisions are based on vibes and, up to a point, people are prepared to take risks to try something that promises "better" rather than just "not worse". This is always a problem for incumbents, of course, but a great message and some highly visible success (I think you're dead right about stopping the boats) is the only way to deal with that when things are as difficult as they are.
Great article!
You mentioned digital id cards in passing, but I think they could be a great policy to put Reform on the back foot and begin to reassure the public that the government is taking action. Farage hates the idea of id cards so this would show a clear dividing line and reveal their ‘pseudo’ populist solutions are just rhetoric!
I agree!
Really enjoyed this, Peter. Feels like the challenge now isn’t just about changing the story, but changing the relationship between politics and people. The old broadcast model is exhausted. What cuts through is proximity, presence and honesty. Leaders willing to be in the tough rooms, listen without judgement and build trust over time. That’s how the story gets written together, not just told from above.
Totally agree with this.
Hello Peter I was born in the early 90s so I'm a child of the New Labour years and I was greatly impressed by your appearance on the "The Rest is Politics" US election special as I thought only you and Dominic Sandbrook really seemed to "get" the factors propelling Trump back into the White House.
I was just reading an article in The Sunday Times that mentioned you are this substack so here I am!
Regarding the returns deal with France doesn't the looming no confidence vote in the French National Assembly in September mean it's highly likely the RN will gain many more seats and the current PM will fall thus jepordising both the current trial agreement and any expansion of the bilateral scheme to meaningful levels?
Personally, perhaps because it aligns with my own concerns and biases, I think immigration both legal and illegal/irregular is on track to be THE defining issue of the next election. The "Boriswave" in both its size and lack of appropriate selection has just rapidly changed many communities and small towns without there being a feeling of consent to the inherent massive cultural changes.
I agree with you. This is something that needs gripping in all of its different layers.
Great piece, much needed and a strong starting point - especially around having a modern, radical and brutally, reforming, vision for government (US dems thinkers like Ezra Klein also discussing) and delivery - the government needs to stop complaining about the civil service and come up with a plan for better delivery from the state asap, as that’s probably the single biggest reason people voted for them; skills and workforce vision and opportunity for joint vision across budget and conference. I’d add a few things to keep building this out…. I’m not yet convinced that ‘opportunity’ is 100pc right… rightly or wrongly a lot of people hear this as welfarism, and much as looking after others is central to the left, the times aren’t right for welfarism of the past at least (Blair n brown had much stronger economy; people are financially scared now and therefore, like it or not, feeling less generous towards others) - so it needs some contemporary nuancing I think. There are 5.5m SME’s in this country, over 90pc of business - what does Labour have to say about what opportunity looks like for them? Finally, I’d say that in addition to the points here about having a bigger more joined up vision to communicate - absolutely key - the government also needs to be bolder and more attention grabbing in its comms, more colloquial, maybe even play a little dirty sometimes. The Boriswave characterisation of the surge in immigration for example, is an opportunity they’ve failed to make enough of. Very finally, party discipline.