I AM a former miner and, not surprisingly, the Durham Miners’ Gala is one of my favourite days of the year. The trade union banners, the brass bands, the thousands of trade unionists marching together — always uplifting for me as lifelong socialist and trade unionist.  

It is a reminder of the amazing support from other trade unions that striking NUM miners received during the miners’ strike of 1984-85, a potent memory of feeling empowered by working-class solidarity. After each Gala I reflect on the message of solidarity it coveys and the immense potential such solidarity could have to fuel social and economic progress.  

This year we have been confronted with the tragic reality that working-class voters are turning their backs on such sentiments. Since May Durham County Council has been controlled by the hard-right, viciously anti-union Reform UK.

A county which 40 years ago was at the heart of working-class resistance to the Thatcher’s onslaught on trade unionism has overwhelmingly voted for her most ardent fans. The families of miners who fought so hard for a year have voted for those who celebrate Thatcher’s victory and her legacy of deprivation.

Many political commentators imply that the working-class voters who have turned to Reform must be ignorant or, essentially, racist. How, they ask, can anyone with any sense vote for a party that is blatantly in favour of policies that are against their own self-interest, led by a millionaire stockbroker, Nigel Farage, who favours  privatising the NHS, who opposes better rights at work and wants to further cut public services to fund tax cuts to benefit rich people such as himself?  

The answer is simple — they wrongly think he cares about them while other politicians do not. They are angry, feel forgotten and are lashing out in desperation.

Of course these working-class voters are being conned by Farage, but for 40 years they have essentially felt ignored, especially by the Labour Party which they voted for loyally for decades with little to show for it.  

The Blair and Brown administrations did not do everything possible to replace the well-paid jobs Thatcher’s scorched-earth deindustrialisation had destroyed. Especially since the financial crisis of 2008-09, areas such north-east England have stagnated. Working-class families have seen their standards of living decline and they feel little optimism for the future.

With the exception of the Corbyn years, Labour’s adherence to a slightly softer version of neoliberalism has meant it has not sufficiently addressed these problems.  

Of course the Blair/Brown governments did improve health and education and reduced child poverty, benefiting from what appeared to be a booming economy, but the failure to provide the amount of investment needed to rebuild the economies of former industrialised towns has left a more lasting impression.  

In 2017, there was some hope that the Corbyn-led Labour Party through ditching neoliberal orthodoxy did have an answer, but Labour’s problematic Brexit politics and the toxic factionalism within Labour’s headquarters effectively destroyed any appeal that the more progressive Labour leadership may have had for the deindustrialised former Labour heartlands.

Nevertheless, I firmly believe that the answer to the rise of Reform can be found in the Labour manifestos of 2017 and 2019. Polling consistently showed that the more socialist policies themselves did have support — it was the image of the party itself that was being rejected.  

Working-class voters, for example, want utilities in democratic forms of public ownership, a properly funded NHS free from creeping privatisation and fair taxation of the super-rich to end the gross levels of inequality neoliberalism has created. Similar policies linked to a renewed emphasis on class politics would certainly threaten Reform’s appeal.

We will not succeed by dismissing any concerns working-class people have regarding immigration as simply being racist. We have to remember that people living insecure lives can fear anything they think will make their lives even less secure. We must listen to such concerns, use a class-based analysis to destroy misperceptions, and build a consensus around an immigration policy that is just for all concerned.

We on the left must take  a critical look at ourselves when facing the question of why we are failing to convince working-class people to support a socialist alternative. For years we have not found an effective means of destroying the grossly unfair perception propagated by the right-wing press that we place more importance on fighting discrimination against minorities than anything else.

How do we convince them that we are fighting against exploitation of all working-class people and that Reform’s racist anti-immigrant message is designed to divide the working class. allowing the ruling class to continue to exploit all workers with impunity? The Durham Miners’ Gala’s core message of working-class solidarity could well be the answer.

One thing is certain, if the Starmer government does not return to basic Labour values many in the crowd at the Gala who voted for Reform in May could do so again at the general election.

Labour’s good policies such as increased spending on housing and infrastructure, public ownership of the railways and the first steps toward better employment rights are not enough to overcome the damage done by policy debacles regarding pensioners and the disabled that have led many to concluded that its leadership does not care about ordinary working-class people. A good first step would be for them to come to Durham this Saturday and listen to the powerful messages of working-class liberation and solidarity that are heard from the platform every year.

Maybe then they would understand what Labour should stand for and create a Labour government that everyone at the Gala would support. 
    
Ian Lavery is Labour MP for Blyth and Ashington.