Labour will come under pressure to back abolishing the two-child limit on benefits, promise universal free school meals and restore the international development department, as activists and trade unions attempt to persuade Keir Starmer to adopt a more ambitious policy platform.
With the Labour leadership using the last few weeks to jettison or correct potentially problematic policies before an election campaign next year, it now faces a summer of concerted campaigning from figures across the party who want it to be bolder in its pledges.
The clashes will culminate in its “national policy forum” in Nottingham at the end of the month. It will see activists, unions, MPs and the leadership hold talks over the party’s policy programme before its election preparations begin in earnest at its autumn conference.
In a shift in tactics from senior figures on the left, the aim is to propose policies with broad support that “go with the grain” of Starmer’s project – and have a chance of being adopted. They believe that they have identified a series of issues, including some that have their roots in Tony Blair’s New Labour government.
Abolishing the two-child limit on welfare, costing around £1.3bn a year to deliver, has emerged as a top priority and could be backed by some of the big unions affiliated with Labour. While Labour has pledged to reform the universal credit system, the party has not formally committed to abolishing the two-child limit on benefits that was introduced during Theresa May’s premiership in 2017. It has already been criticised as the “worst social security policy ever”. It is thought to affect an estimated 1.5 million children.
A recent study found that the policy has failed to increase employment levels – but it has left hundreds of thousands of households in poverty. It found its “main function” has been to push families further into poverty and damage their mental health.
Some Labour figures said that the party’s caution had become so strong that they were now simply trying to ensure it stuck to relatively small pledges such as restoring a separate department for international development. The department, responsible for administering foreign aid, was first set up by Labour in 1997.
“It’s a very tough time for the left within the party and it’s not getting easier. But we do feel that the leadership are overplaying their hand in policy terms, going so far the other way,” said one senior figure on Labour’s left.
“The irony is not lost on me, but there are areas where we can appeal to the legacies of Blair and New Labour. We are aware that this is a compromise process, where we’re likely to extract minor concessions, rather than flagship demands.”
The demand with the widest support is adopting universal free school meals for state primary schools in England. The Labour first minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford, as well as Labour mayors and unions, support the policy. There is also said to be significant support within the shadow cabinet for the move, which would cost around £1bn a year to implement.
Some Labour MPs are concerned about the cautious approach being shown by the leadership, but most believe that party discipline will hold while it retains a large poll lead. A poll by Opinium this weekend shows that Labour maintains a significant 19-point lead over the Tories, with just 25% saying they plan to vote Conservative.
“The pre-eminence of Labour’s fiscal rules means that they’re just trying to eliminate anything that can be characterised as being unfunded or extravagant,” said one influential figure involved in the summer talks. “They just want to be seen to be not committing to anything on any front, sending a message of fiscal prudence. The problem is that people want some sense of what’s going to happen under a Labour government.”
Labour is planning to use the coming week to unveil its plans to “break down barriers to opportunity” - one of Starmer’s “five missions” designed to set out his vision for a Labour government. It will include a pledge to take 200,000 children off mental health waiting lists, funded by ending tax breaks for private schools.
