Blue Labour and the Politics of Place

A speech by Lord Glasman

Author: Localis - Feb 9, 2012

Lord Glasman, the founder of the ‘Blue Labour’ philosophy and leading commentator on community organisation, made a set-piece speech at Localis entitled 'Blue Labour and the Politics of Place' on Thursday 9th February.

During his speech Lord Glasman addressed many themes from worker representation on corporate boards to the stranglehold of debt gripping the British economy. He discussed the failure of globalisation and existing economic systems, saying:

"It is the extraordinary achievement of mathematically based academic economics that not only did it display no predictive power in relation to the financial crash of 2008... but it has also been unable to explain why it happened."

Throughout he stressed the need for a new form of capitalism, and praised the German system of regional banks, which he advocated replicating in this country, saying:

"I would suggest that we use 5% of the bailout money to endow [various] Banks of England, which would be established in the counties and cities of England and would be constrained to lend within the county or city."

Lord Glasman also offered a glimpse of a ‘Blue Labour’ vision for a renewal of political institutions, stating:

"An example of Blue Labour politics of place would be to extend the City of London corporation to all of London so that come May, Ken Livingstone can live in the Mansion House, that each locality in London can be represented in its Parliament in the Guildhall and the Livery Companies of bakers, plumbers, teachers and carpenters are no longer dining clubs for bankers but actively renew the promotion of a vocational economy."

And he concluded with a clarion call for a new, reciprocal form of democracy embedded in community life:

"When we can no longer turn to the market or the state as an exclusive instrument of renewal we have no alternative but to look to each other, to the people we live and work with."

Alex Thomson, Chief Executive of Localis, who introduced Lord Glasman at last night’s event said:

"We were delighted to host Lord Glasman here at Localis. It was a fantastic event and Lord Glasman’s speech was stimulating, informative and perceptive, with a scattering of excellent jokes.

His vision of a more civic, localised democracy certainly poses interesting questions to all those involved in the localist cause. New thinking is required to re-engage local communities in the democratic process, and the ideas Lord Glasman described to us last night are an excellent starting point for discussion."

Click here to read the full transcript of Lord Glasman's speech

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