Biographies of Discontent: The Challenges Facing Labour

In 2011, an article in this journal appeared based on experiences of people met in my County Durham constituency as their Member of Parliament for Bishop Auckland. These were a reeve (sheep farmer), a miner, a single mum and a priest. For all of them, socioeconomic policies were more important than identity politics to their wellbeing.

Thirteen years later, I write again on four more people, considering whether their concerns are likely to be addressed after myriad changes in English society.

The refugee's tale

When Anna arrived in England from Ukraine, she would cry herself to sleep. A year on and she lives independently in a nice small house. She has learned to manage, but what she really wants is an end to the war so it is safe to go home. All the main parties have vowed to keep supporting the Ukrainian war effort and indeed, over time, increase defence spending as a share of GDP.

Anna is better off than Tracy, who lives in a scruffy house on a 1950s social housing estate. Tracy had paid her rent, but her landlord had not paid the mortgage, so now she was being threatened with bailiffs and eviction in nine days’ time—a so-called ‘no fault’ eviction. Tracy has an eleven-year-old son and should have been a priority for rehousing (there were empty homes on the estate). Tracy commented that if she were a refugee she would get more help.

Tracy's views are not unusual. On the eve of this year's general election, 41 per cent of voters said immigration is a top issue and 14 per cent voted Reform. Ukrainians were immediately allowed full access to all parts of the welfare state and to work; asylum seekers are not. It is arguable that the government were over-generous to the Ukrainians. I was Anna and her family's sponsor and the state is allocating over £31,500 per year to this family. Furthermore, councils were given £10,500 per person, which came from the overseas aid budget.

The Tories are riven with conflicting ideologies which prevented them from running a coherent immigration policy. On the one hand, they are ‘populist nationalists’ embracing Brexit, but on the other by a commitment to market liberalism and globalisation.

The disabled person's tale

I really got to know Phillip during the pandemic. He lives alone in a social housing flat and finds it difficult to get out, because he has had a stroke and uses a wheelchair. He is lucky insofar as he knows lots of people. But he is the sort of person of whom social workers say, ‘he has many and complex needs’. People do not visit Phillip, not least because his flat is very, very dirty. The council haven’t done enough. He has a very poor diet.

The lack of community and preventative services is letting Phillip down. With 120,000 strokes a year, the cost to the nation is £25 billion annually, whereas in 2024 the average cost of a GP appointment is £56.

Poverty is not on the political agenda and yet it underlies many issues which Phillip and Tracy experience. While the number of people in relative poverty—13 million—has not changed much since 2010, within that group, the numbers sliding into deep poverty—a household income after housing costs of £9,840—has grown by 50 per cent to 6 million. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has also shown that destitution is rising. Over 50 per cent of people facing destitution are disabled or have a long-term health condition.

The groups who are disproportionately likely to be in poverty are single, lone parents and their children, large families, disabled people, carers, the unemployed, people in the Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities, people in northeast England and those in Wales (even though housing costs are low in both areas). Thus, policy solutions need to focus on these groups.

The student's tale

Josh is nearing the end of his course and is building up a huge debt of £60,000 even though he works two jobs. It is not so much the tuition fees; rather, the cost of living and his rent.

Josh is one son of the single mum I met eleven years ago—the mother who was determined to give her boys a good start. Josh gets the full maintenance loan. He feels it is an engine to keep poor people poor.

Finances in some institutions are rocky and the sector is calling for more support either from more international students, higher fees for UK students or direct subsidy. All these options have disadvantages. Josh's story illustrates the problem with raising tuition fees to UK students. So, they have lobbied effectively for more international students by pressing for a two-year work visa extension and visas for graduates’ dependants. England may wish to export its higher education, but if you were Josh, would it be desirable to export the housing stock?

The househunter's tale

Josh's older brother Chris is 30. He wants to buy a home and start a family. By dint of great efforts, he has saved £20,000 with his partner, but this—compared with property prices—is a minute amount. They cannot afford a garden. Even his mum in her council house had a garden they could play in as kids.

The British housing market is a disaster for young people. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), almost half of first-time buyers bought with money gifted from their parents. The policy solutions are obvious: build more homes, stop non-resident overseas buyers from buying off-plan and leaving properties empty, and introduce rent regulations.

Britain is now more unequal than it has been since World War Two. According to a report from Demos, changing rules on higher tax relief on pensions, national insurance contributions and capital gains tax would raise £33 billion a year and would be popular with the majority—that is without considering wealth taxes and inheritance tax. So far, Labour has committed to VAT on private schools and promised a tax-raising budget.

Conclusion

Labour undoubtedly have a strong commitment to equal opportunities, to the Joshes and Chrises of this world. The government's proposals on fees and maintenance grants will help Josh's successors. The NHS pay settlements and building more homes will help Chris. Meanwhile, Phillip is protected from the cut in winter fuel allowance because he receives pension credit. But achieving equal opportunities cannot be done without also addressing inequality—how will Tracy's son fare?

This is not about the statistics—it is something far more fundamental. Getting a good education and working hard are no longer enough to secure a good life. Riots breaking out across England and Northern Ireland were orchestrated through false far-right narratives on social media. In the July 2024 election, 14 per cent of votes went to Reform and 41 per cent of them said the rioters ‘speak for them’.

If Labour does not do better to wrench back the narrative, Britain—where about a fifth of people hold negative views on immigration—may come more and more to resemble France, where the proportion is nearly one-third—with the electoral consequences that this implies.