I HAVE observed with deep sadness as the north-east of England has become fertile electoral ground for hard-right populism.  

The place I have lived all my life, whose people supported Labour for decades, instinctively believing it represented their values and was on their side, are rejecting it in favour of the politics of division and prejudice. It hurts to see my community that once had pride in its reputation for being friendly and tolerant vote for Reform UK that is intent on fostering bigotry.

Deindustrialised areas, such as the former Northumberland coalfield where I live, have seen no improvement for decades. Life has been a struggle since Thatcher’s wholesale destruction of the industries that once provided security. For a number of reasons, many people in these areas have concluded that Labour simply doesn’t care about them any more.
       
To regain their trust Labour needs abandon any adherence to neoliberal economics that has purposefully through tax cuts, weakened trade unions and austerity seen wealth flow from workers to the very rich.

By not powerfully condemning this, the root cause of ordinary people’s financial insecurity, it has let the super-rich off of the hook for this injustice. Consequently, it has been easier for Farage to cynically perpetuate the lie that immigrants should be the target of their discontent.

In the 2024 election, disgusted by the shambolic Tory governments of Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, the old Labour heartlands gave Labour a chance, but within weeks through a series of calamitous errors starting with cutting the pensioners’ Winter Fuel Allowance, many soon regretted this decision.

Labour, they concluded, did not offer them hope of something better. This massive sense of being let down has eclipsed any of Labour’s positive achievements and, worryingly, has opened the door for the hard right.

There is a way of for Labour to fight the far right and regain trust in areas such as the north-east — it has to remember why it came into being in the first place. 
    
The declaration by the government that it is “equally pro-worker and pro-business” is its fundamental flaw. People know instinctively that this equates to favouring big business as it holds the power that they lack.

Wasn’t Labour created to fight to protect workers who were in an unequal struggle with their employers?

This fallacious “pro-business” rhetoric must be ditched, followed by a policy relaunch that is strongly pro-worker.

Of course Labour can start to regain people’s support by using a wealth tax and other measures to tax the rich, so as to adequately fund our public services such as schools, the NHS and transport. Rebuilding community assets that people are proud of can lead to repairing the social cohesion so badly damaged by years of Tory austerity.  

All the areas that cause working people to feel insecure have to be addressed if the horror of a Farage government is to be avoided. As a matter of great urgency Labour must have a fundamental policy relaunch that leaves everyone in no doubt of whose side it is on.

If Labour prove that it is serious about delivering, for example, new well-paid green jobs in deindustrialised communities, affordable homes including a large-scale increase in council housing and publicly owned democratically managed utilities, it could regain the initiative and claw back the some of Farage’s gains. Through delivering on promises to improve the lives of ordinary people Labour could cut off the primary source of Reform’s appeal, people’s fears and anxieties.

Farage has a fundamental weakness, the hypocrisy of his proclaimed concern for the working class. This is his Achille’s heal that Labour must target ruthlessly. Polling shows very strong support for the contents of the Employment Rights Bill among Reform-supporting former Labour voters, but do they know that Reform MPs have voted against its provisions at every stage?  

Do working-class communities know of Farage’s plans to cut welfare benefits and to slash public spending that will lead to the destruction of the already austerity-ravaged public services on which they rely? They must become aware of the fact that at the same time he will be cutting the taxes for the rich.

As many have said, Labour cannot defeat Reform by trying to seem harder on immigrants than it is. This has only succeeded in bolstering his image as a leader and his credibility. Of course everyone wants to see the small boats stopped, this has to be balanced with declaring how positive immigration has been for Britain and explaining genuine asylum-seekers must be treated humanely under international law.

Labour can destroy the myth of Farage as working-class hero and have policies that will regain the trust of ordinary people where I live and similar communities. But it has to act urgently before its too late.

Ian Lavery is MP for Blyth and Ashington.