IN 1984 the traditional Gala celebrations were replaced by a demonstration as part of cost-cutting measures brought in by the Durham Miners’ Association. 

The demonstration took place in what was described in the local press as siege city. Bars kept their doors closed and shops were boarded shut awaiting trouble which never materialised. In fact, the three arrests made were fewer than usual.

Forty years later Durham is buzzing, the pubs crammed to the rafters and the shops doing a brisk trade.

It is an ironic twist that the closed pubs and boarded shops of Britain in 2024 are the result of Tory destruction over the past decade and a half. The decimation of the Conservatives that has brought a smile to so many here today would not have dared been dreamt of when we were queueing up for cheese sandwiches after picket duty in 1984.

Whilst many will be celebrating the destruction of what has been dubbed the most successful electoral machine in the modern world, we should pause for thought. Not only did Labour win a landslide with three million fewer votes than Jeremy Corbyn achieved in 2017 we actually got fewer than achieved in 2019, an election which saw Labour drop below 200 seats.

At the recent general election Labour won a landslide on a message of change and it is a country crying out for it. 

But for too many of the thousands of people I spoke to during the campaign they just didn’t believe anything would fundamentally alter. The turnout in many of our traditional seats was incredibly low and some analysis suggests there was a swing away from Labour in the most deprived places.

The rise of Reform is something which should concern us all. We only need to look across the Channel where bland, technocratic Macronism has failed the French people and emboldened the far right, for a terrifying vision of the future. 

We should also look there for the answer. Tinkering around the edges or pandering to their rhetoric is doomed to fail. The answer is a bold, hopeful vision of the future like that outlined by the New Popular Front.

Labour should also reflect on the growth of Greens, progressive and pro-Palestinian independents. There can no longer be a dismissive sneer at those who think our party has moved too far to the right. In many seats Labour is challenged from its left. Halt the damaging internal attacks and let us face the far right as a united block offering a positive future.

The country is desperate for change and for hope. Labour has a duty to deliver it not only for those who voted for us, but perhaps more importantly for those who didn’t.

We have to be bold. Let this Gala send a message to the Labour leadership on the change that we want to see.

An end to the poverty that blights our communities. Scrap the two-child limit and let’s feed our children with a free healthy meal at school.

Scrap the anti-union legislation brought in by successive Tory governments and implement in full the new deal for working people.

Get our NHS off its knees and stop the vampirical speculators profiteering off the poor health of our safety net.

Breathe life back into our communities by putting money back in the pockets of working people and creating good green jobs with excellent wages, terms and conditions.

Fully recognise the state of Palestine, demand an end to the onslaught of Gaza and the release of hostages.

These are the bare minimum we need to build the foundations for a better future. In mining communities here like in Durham we need justice. Labour’s manifesto makes a good start with changes to the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme and investigations into Orgreave. 

These are issues I’ve fought for my entire life, so I’m delighted to see they are to be implemented. My personal view would be that any review into Orgreave should be expanded to look into the political policing and sentencing of the entire strike, not simply one terrible day in South Yorkshire.

But we need to go much further. Mining communities will not see justice until the wrongs of the past are undone. 

This must mean someone born in the coalfields today, be it in Kent or Northumberland, will have the same opportunities of employment and security as I did when I was born. 

It must also mean that those who toiled in the bowels of the earth are able to live comfortably into retirement. A real recognition of their service to the country would mean a proper health and social care system.

The great Irish socialist and trade unionist James Connolly said “our demands most moderate are, we only want the Earth.” I wholeheartedly agree and hope that Durham joins me in demanding change.

Ian Lavery is Labour MP for Blyth & Ashington.