Labour must take the argument to the far right to champion an inclusive and progressive Britain, the deputy leadership contender Alison McGovern has said.
Speaking to the Guardian, McGovern said she wanted Labour to make a far more “emotional argument” and said “the progressive cause is at risk of being lost unless we can tell that story”.
McGovern, the communities minister, has close ties with No 10 and was previously the chair of the party’s centrist Progress movement.
A hardened elections organiser, she said the deputy leader should be “campaigner in chief” as well as the party’s storyteller, who could take on the divisions promoted by Reform and make the case for a diverse Britain.
The MP for Birkenhead was initially thought to be the favoured choice of No 10, though the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, has since entered the race.
On Tuesday night McGovern had just two nominations but gained more on Wednesday morning, including the justice minister Jess Phillips, who many MPs had hoped would stand herself.
The six hopefuls will need 80 fellow MPs to nominate them to reach the final ballot paper.
McGovern said it would be her role as deputy leader to get the Labour movement to “step up” and challenge the spreading of division and hate.
“The traditional kind of conservatism that we’ve had, that I’ve been battling all my political life is gone now, and it’s been replaced by a populist, hard-right view of the world that I think is dividing our country,” she said.
“I really worry about this moment in politics. The past decade has not been good for this argument [on diversity and inclusivity], and I think now is the time for progressives to realise that it’s the Labour party and the Labour movement that has this unique place in British society, bringing people together from different backgrounds on the things that they have in common, and showing that if we fight together, we can win.”
Her comments echo some widespread worries within the parliamentary party that senior Labour figures, including the prime minister, have not done enough to make the progressive case against Nigel Farage, especially over the summer, when Reform dominated the media conversation.
McGovern said the government was making widespread changes on the economy and communities that people would feel the benefits of – but that it also needed to tell a bigger story on values.
“If you see what’s happening in communities across Britain and some people feeling unsafe and divided, and this narrative that’s coming out from the hard right about who is to blame for problems in our country – I think it’s our job to say, actually, everyone needs a home and a roof over their head,” she said. “Everyone needs a decent, good job that pays them properly, and everybody needs to feel part of something and to belong to something. And we have those things in common.”
She said Labour could make a case for “inclusive, diverse Britain … it’s that story that I think really needs to be told. Practical things have got to be done. It also needs heart and soul. It also needs an emotional argument.”
McGovern said that she saw in her own north-west constituency that people were “losing hope” and that change had not yet really reached them. “There’s still too many people out there who are working too hard for their poverty.
“There a heck of a lot more to do, and we cannot give up on doing the practical things that will make life good. We cannot give up on the next generation. And also we have to show people that the Britain that we’re really proud of is there.”
McGovern may still be hampered by the unpopularity of the government’s welfare reforms – during which she was employment minister. She said as deputy leader she would want a closer relationship with MPs and members.
“The role of the deputy leader is to be the bridge between the movement, the members, and the leader. And I think for that, you need absolute loyalty and absolute honesty. So you’ve got to be able to tell people when it’s not the right thing, but the way that you do it is important.”
