In running for election as Leader of the Labour Party, Keir Starmer published a 10 point plan, which I have noted & mirrored on this web site. A couple of months later, Richard Burgon, writing in Tribune produced his own 10 point plan as a focus for left unity within the Labour Party. I produce them below/overleaf in a table of titles. Provided we ‘don’t try and read the tea leaves in the order, there’s not a lot of difference! For those of us who didn’t vote for him, this should give us hope that Labour’s opposition and manifesto will be worthwhile, but those that voted for him because of his 10 pledges need to be articulate in reminding him of them.
| Burgon | Starmer |
| National Campaign for Jobs | Economic justice |
| A green new deal | Social justice |
| Universal Social Security | Climate justice |
| Ending NHS Privatisation and Building a National Social Care Service | Peace & human rights |
| Public Ownership, Not Private Profit | Common Ownership |
| A New Era of Workers’ Rights | Defend Migrants Rights |
| Housing as a Public Right | Strengthen workers’ rights and trade unions |
| Tax Justice | Radical devolution of power, wealth and opportunity |
| Solidarity with Black Lives Matter – For a Society of Equals | Equality |
| For Peace, Justice and Global Cooperation | Effective opposition to the Tories |
My hope was that Open Labour might play that role but at the moment they seem more focused on other things and they have never tested if their members/supporters commitment to their platform, the summary of which shockingly avoids the issue of the climate crisis, although it is mentioned in their 2019/20 position paper. I hope they keep their political/policy focus and don’t degenerate into mindless loyalism for the Leader as did large elements of Momentum & CLPD.