December 3, 2022 - 8:00am

We are a little over two years away from a general election and Brexit still looms over the country. Keir Starmer has said there will be no return to freedom of movement and no major renegotiation of the deal to leave the European Union. But Labour has yet to set out how it will make Brexit work. For, as Wolfgang Munchau has pointed out, this task requires a new economic model. 

Labour needs a plan for Britain. Here are five areas on which they can focus to make Brexit work and rebuild the country.

1. Raise living standards by rebalancing our national economy 

Critical is the devolution of decision-making, resources and tax-raising powers to give back control to local people. Without the power to force change at the centre, economic devolution will fail to happen. When reform is pushed through, an institutional framework for regional investment needs to be developed.   

2. Pledge to safeguard our natural world and achieve net zero by 2035 

This will guarantee our energy security, and create good jobs and better environments in local communities across the UK. Much of good government is about taking the decisions to bring in long-term investors, establish the business model for the production of hydrogen, and plan the new electricity and gas systems and their regulatory frameworks. 

Labour has committed £28 billion of investment a year for a decade, which needs incorporating into a UK-wide investment strategy.

3. Increase investment in the British people 

Labour can improve services through taxation on land value, unearned wealth, and the reform of unfair tax advantages. The party’s priority must be vocational education and re-skilling the workforce for the industries and businesses of the future. This will involve devolving decisions and planning to partnerships of civil society organisations, trade unions and business at local and regional level. 

Choosing high levels of immigration contributes to incentivising the low-skill, low-wage, low-productivity economy. Labour has to break with this economic model. The response to sectoral deficiencies in labour needs to include appropriate skills training and vocational education to improve productivity, not simply more immigration.

4. Create a more productive and dynamic market economy 

This can be achieved by reforming the benefits system and shifting taxation onto land and wealth.  Council Tax is unfair and ineffective:  Labour can either reassess it, or replace it with new Land Tax on property owners. The loopholes in Inheritance Tax need closing. Capital Gains Tax can be set at income tax rates, and the tax relief on higher-rate pensions contribution can be restricted. Additionally, by scrapping and replacing business rates, Labour can create a system that encourages investment and enterprise. 

5. Improve the security and resilience of the UK. 

Safeguarding national security means avoiding high levels of dependence on unfriendly or unstable foreign sources by in-shoring vital supply chains. Government procurement can be used to increase the purchase, manufacture and sale of British goods. And to safeguard food security Labour can look again at Henry Dimbleby’s National Food Strategy.

Labour needs to show how it will end the chaos of spontaneous arrivals and irregular migration. Conservative failure feeds into insecurities closer to home. A sense of belonging is vital to stable local communities, but it only flourishes in safe neighbourhoods. Labour must be the party of law and order and that means fixing the broken justice system. A Labour plan will ensure that Britain is meeting all its obligations to NATO in full, closing gaps in our capability or funding.

A plan for Britain is a covenant with the British people, based on jobs to raise a family on; British energy; safeguarding our natural world; more and better policing; control of our borders; lower levels of immigration; and investing in the British people. It is a national partnership between business and unions, between young and old, and between regions and nations. It is a covenant we will all be able to contribute to and from which we can all benefit. A more confident and secure Britain can build a new relationship with the EU and take its place in the world as a leading regional power with global reach.


Jonathan Rutherford is a writer and one of the co-founders of Blue Labour