Contribute to Labour’s manifesto

Ed Miliband has issued an invitation to contribute ideas for Labour’s manifesto. The odds are so stacked against them they’ve got nothing to lose. How about a Green New Deal for starters? What about making equality the new benchmark for success? Or let’s push the boat out with a move away from GDP … What would you like to see them add?

I’ll let Ed take over:

I want to know your ideas. More than any other time in my political lifetime, I am conscious that the future is not yet written. At the next election the Labour Party must be ready with a vision of the kind of society we want to see.

We’ve got to ensure that our values and vision are reflective of the differing needs of the British people. In the last ten years I know that as a party we have delivered real help to people from all walks of life.

But how many parents regret that they missed their kids’ upbringing because they still feel they couldn’t leave work? How many of us know older people, our parents, our grandparents, our neighbours who are leading longer lives, who are worried about being isolated, and the costs and burdens of being cared for?
How many of us know young people who don’t have their voice heard and feel that society has nothing to offer them?

The politics and the institutions we build must speak to their lives. We’ve made real progress in these areas, but there is more to be done.

This is the first election of a new economic era shaped by the three crises of our time: the global financial crisis, the post-expenses political crisis, and the climate crisis.

Our task is to shape the future around a modern progressive agenda. It is about driving forward reforms, building lasting change – and a better society – on the foundations so carefully laid over the last decade. As the Labour Party, we are restless for change. We want Britain by 2015 to be even fairer, greener, more prosperous and democratic.

Following the National Policy Forum programme agreed at Conference, we want to debate the dramatic changes taking place in the world. Our proposals are being sent to every constituency party in the country. This dialogue will help to frame the thinking for the next manifesto.