Keir Starmer is likely to battle the Labour left over protest laws, green issues and a wealth tax as the party kickstarts its manifesto development. Momentum, the grassroots campaign group, hopes to make a “loud” case for left-leaning policies in the lead-up to the next general election, and will collaborate with the Socialist Campaign Group (SCG). The first intervention is understood to be imminent, with rent controls, the abolition of tuition fees and a wealth tax said to be high on the group’s agenda. However, Momentum no longer has control of any of the policy commissions or a majority of delegates on the national policy forum (NPF), Labour’s decision-making body, so is unlikely to be able to push through its proposals. A Momentum source told the Guardian: “Keir knows that leftwing policies are what’s needed. That’s why policies like rail nationalisation and a windfall tax have resonated, while no one remembers the British recovery bond yawn-athon. The lesson from the 2017 election campaign is that people want bold, clear policies: like abolishing tuition fees or nationalising our failed energy system.” On Monday, the NPF published a draft consultation paper covering six important policy areas including the environment, the future of work, crime, public services and international development. Members and campaigners have until 17 March to submit submissions or contribute to online events, airing their views before the NPF redrafts those policy papers on the basis of those submissions. Momentum and the SCG hope to ensure proposals that were popular under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership – including nationalisation, wealth taxes and the abolition of tuition fees – will make it on to the manifesto. Insiders are also understood to be hopeful that groups including Labour for a Green New Deal, which has announced a new campaign for public ownership of energy, will also launch their own interventions.
In one of the few policy announcements already made, Starmer has promised a publicly owned energy company run on clean UK power – called Great British Energy – in the first year of a Labour government. The new leftwing coalition will bring a fresh headache to Starmer, who had promised Labour members over the weekend that the party had changed since the disastrous 2019 election defeat under Corbyn, telling a London conference: “Never again will Labour be a party of protest not public service. Never again will Labour fail to grasp that economic stability is the foundation of all our ambitions. “Never again will Labour allow hate to spread unchallenged. We have changed our party and we’re ready to change Britain.” Starmer faced pressure at the last Labour party conference as delegates passed union-backed motions urging public ownership of Royal Mail and inflation-proof pay rises. Labour subsequently vowed to renationalise the railways. The party leader has since confirmed his plans to shift Labour back towards the centre to lure undecided swing voters. The NPF will meet from 21-23 July to decide what will be put to Labour conference to form the final party programme, from which the manifesto will be drawn. It marks the first time since the 2015 general election that the NPF has been able to convene and officially start its manifesto work. Last summer, the party drew up plans to govern in case of a snap election while Boris Johnson was struggling to thwart a mutiny, party insiders told the Guardian. A leftwing source told the Guardian: “A Labour government will be remembered by the change it makes. Being real, everyone thinks Keir will be the next PM – the question is whether he will end up hated like Blair, or feted like [Clement] Attlee. The path will be set by the manifesto.”