Abstract
If you get people in a room together, if people have the freedom to meet, talk and argue, they’ll make better decisions about the things which affect their lives than anyone else.
In ‘Letting Go: How Labour can learn to stop worrying and trust the people’ Jon Wilson shows how Labour can become a movement rooted in people’s experience, not be the party of the central manager. Above all, it needs to trust people again. The politician’s vocation should be to create institutions where those conversations happen, not determine what they decide.
This doesn’t mean Labour should abandon its faith in the state. Indeed, that faith needs to be renewed, because our public institutions embody Labour’s sense of the purpose of politics: to protect and care, and provide a basis for us to lead good lives together. But the argument in favour of the public sector should be an argument for local control and popular ownership.
In ‘Letting Go: How Labour can learn to stop worrying and trust the people’ Jon Wilson shows how Labour can become a movement rooted in people’s experience, not be the party of the central manager. Above all, it needs to trust people again. The politician’s vocation should be to create institutions where those conversations happen, not determine what they decide.
This doesn’t mean Labour should abandon its faith in the state. Indeed, that faith needs to be renewed, because our public institutions embody Labour’s sense of the purpose of politics: to protect and care, and provide a basis for us to lead good lives together. But the argument in favour of the public sector should be an argument for local control and popular ownership.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Fabian Society |
| Number of pages | 67 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9780716306320 |
| Publication status | Published - Sept 2012 |
Keywords
- Labour
- public services
- trust