Why Labour values are needed now more than ever
Businesses face multiple challenges ahead. Some businesses are fighting to remain solvent as the pandemic continues, whilst others have had to furlough employees and have felt the impact of business disruption. At the same time, they are thinking about the challenges of tomorrow: preparing for the post-COVID ‘normal’, adapting to the effects of Brexit, and the need to decarbonise our economy.
That is why it is so important there is a Labour Party that supports good business and the vital role they play. The pandemic has seen businesses manufacturing the tools with which we are fighting the crisis, protecting their employees, and helping out in their communities. They have shown that aspiration and solidarity can go hand-in-hand.
Many of us work with businesses, helping them define their purpose and how they tackle the task of building back better after this crisis. Now, more than ever, businesses must think about how to better serve their workforce, equipping them––and the wider public––with the skills of the future. As an organisation, we want to help them in this journey, and provide an open forum to discuss how they can do this. We want to show that the interests of business, NGOs, charities, society, and the worker can be aligned.
We want to be a diverse organisation, that recognises the Labour Party, and society more generally, functions best as a broad church, with a wide range of voices, experiences and opinions. Our exciting first slate of speakers aims to embody this vision, featuring old and new voices from the party, on topics that Labour must grasp to paint a vision for the future, and crucially regain power at the next general election and begin writing Britain’s next chapter. More than that, however, political organising works best from a foundation of friendship and mutual respect: we want to be a social space, where we learn from each other and make long-lasting connections.
There is likely still three years yet until another general election. In the interim, the goal of the Labour Party, as with the government, should be thinking around how we can help rebuild the country in a way that provides for the future prosperity of all. We hope that our organisation, and many others like us, can be a small help with fresh perspective, organising power, and a supportive hand to those who share the interests of making a better Britain.
Ned Walker, Pete Turay and Nabhan Malik
Brunswick Group