Young Fabians Chair: Labour must be the party for working-age people

Labour is in an identity crisis. Labour’s losses in its former industrial strongholds in 2017-21 have shaken the Party’s sense of purpose, and sparked arguments about who it should represent. On the other hand, during the same period Labour has scored surprise victories in parts of southern England that have never been considered part of its heartlands.

Labour can stay true to its name and mission while regaining clarity on its message, and reaching towards a new majority. To do so, it must understand and vocally represent its new coalition of supporters – not shy away from it. 

Labour’s new heartlands - the generational divide

The fault-lines in British politics are now based around generation more than class. 

Despite the Conservatives’ claim to speak for the working class, in 2019 Labour beat them in every household income bracket among working-age people: except among households earning over £100,000/year.

Labour’s performance among working-age people was still not good enough in the last General Election. The ‘tipping-point’ age from Labour to Conservative fell from 47 in 2017 to 39 in 2019, and Labour lost many younger voters to the Lib Dems and Greens. Yet Labour should realise that it has a heartland of young voters that it must work to retain and mobilise; and that ‘swing voters’ in their later 30s and 40s are persuadable. 

The Conservatives relaunched their prospects, and developed a clear coalition, by becoming the party of people in or near retirement. Labour can communicate a clearer vision by being the party for working-age people. 

Data on population by age in individual constituencies reveals that 20-49 year-olds outnumber over-50s in a large and diverse set of places. These include seats in Britain’s capitals and Core Cities, where Labour still has plenty of ground to gain. They also include seats that Labour could win back across more youthful places like Stoke, Wolverhampton and West Bromwich; and towns like Wycombe and Watford, which have rarely or never had Labour MPs but are now trending towards Labour in General Elections.

By focusing on younger voters, Labour could give the Liberal Democrats space to take more seats from the Conservatives, recreating a key dynamic in the 1997 rout of John Major’s government. Of the non-London seats that the Lib Dems could win with a swing of less than 10%, almost all are held by the Conservatives, and most are dominated by voters over 50. In fact, they beat the Conservatives on a swing of nearly 15% in Chesham & Amersham, which is one of Britain’s ‘oldest seats’, with a campaign pitched against local development. 

So, how can Labour persuade voters in early middle-age to vote for them, while continuing to mobilise the youngest voters? 

Talking about my generation 

I’ve just turned 30. This made me think harder about different aspirations and anxieties: ones shared by so many in their 30s and 40s who need a more secure life.  

Will I be able to find an affordable place to live, where I can get to work and back without wasting hours a day on the commute? Will it be somewhere with good schools, and proper support for children who need it? Will I be able to support other loved ones who may need professional care in years to come? And when they reach their 20s, will my children be able to afford to move out to study or work in good jobs independently? 

These questions are most acute for those on the lowest incomes, but are asked by people across all classes and backgrounds. Yet Labour’s messaging on ‘jobs’ often seems too abstract to answer these questions. Labour should communicate tangible ways that a Labour government would make it easier for us to live the lives we want to live, while working in good careers that give us security. 

A Labour Party for all workers

This means Labour must be more ambitious on improving access to public transport and electric vehicles, and on getting more housing built near places with good existing infrastructure and job prospects - even if it means tough choices. Unlike the Liberal Democrats, Labour cannot afford to just say “not here” to new housing and infrastructure. 

Labour needs to keep speaking up for workers’ rights, productivity, and job creation across Britain. It must accompany this with simple, eye-catching, progressive policies on school improvements, and access to childcare and adult social care. No programme on the future of work is complete without expanding our care workforce and improving conditions for carers. This is somewhere voters of all ages can find common ground, and something Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner can talk about powerfully from lived experience. 

Labour must also show it backs working-age voters fiscally. While incomes for working-age people stagnated and child poverty rose in the age of ‘austerity’, retirement-age people’s incomes rose in the 2010s. This is partly due to the Conservatives’ selective embrace of welfarism, and partly because older people are also most likely to own ‘assets’ such as houses, at a time when asset gains outstrip wage growth. Labour can address these growing inequalities through reform of regressive taxes, requiring wealthy asset owners to pay more to help fund popular pledges on care, increasing Statutory Sick Pay, and making the welfare system permanently more generous for working-age people to secure livelihoods in a time of massive disruption.  

Taking a stance on culture

As the last few years have shown, Labour cannot just focus on services and economics while neglecting social and cultural issues. 

As  UK in a Changing Europe’s research estimates, 50 is a pivotal age for attitudes about immigration, and for having close friends or regular contact with people from other ethnic groups. Similarly, polling demonstrates that British people aged under 50 generally hold the most inclusive views on recognition of LGBTQIA+ people, and are most likely to cite marriage equality as something that makes them proud to live in Britain. 

Labour needs to keep and deserve its support among younger people, as well as older people who hold socially liberal values. This means that for electoral and ethical reasons Labour must champion tolerance, vocally defend people targeted by the right in the culture wars, and stand for a distinctly progressive patriotism. Failing to do so risks Labour’s new ‘base’ refusing to turn out, or voting for other parties in an age when political allegiance is more fluid than before.

Towards a winning coalition 

Of course, there will always be many younger voters who won't vote Labour: and Labour must work to keep its many older progressive supporters and activists. It needs to build support across Britain in all its diversity.

As John Curtice argues, Labour also needs a clearer stance on constitutional issues in Scotland, where tactical voting by unionists and independence supporters dominates and complicates generational dynamics. UK Labour should also emphasise Welsh Labour’s achievements in power (especially given its more impressive record among older voters), and put its Metro Mayors at the heart of Labour’s messaging and internal democracy to help it win across metro regions like Greater Manchester. 

By using these tactics, while making a strong pitch built around working-age people, Labour can communicate more clearly, advance intergenerational fairness, and build a coalition for the future. 

Mark Whittaker
Chair of the Young Fabians

The Young Fabians is the under-31s branch of the Fabian Society: a leading progressive think-tank, membership organisation and Labour Party affiliate. You can find out more about the Young Fabians here and join us and the Fabian Society here.