IPPR warns progressive parties must be bold, not backward-looking, in face of rising populism
Labour must resist the temptation to mimic the rhetoric and policies of the populist right and instead offer bold, future-facing alternatives, an influential new report from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has warned.
In the wake of disappointing results in the May local elections — which saw the party lose ground to Reform UK across England — the report urges Labour to avoid “reaching back to yesterday’s men” and the politics of the past. Instead, it argues, the party must emerge as a confident, progressive force that disrupts rather than defends the status quo.
The report, titled Facing the Future, is a direct challenge to suggestions from factions such as Blue Labour, which have advocated adopting elements of right-wing populism in order to regain the trust of working-class voters. It comes with the backing of former Labour foreign secretary David Miliband, who contributed the foreword.
“The forward march of populism is in full swing,” the report states, warning that progressive parties risk falling further behind if they continue to fight the battles of yesterday. “When parties don’t have new ideas, they reach back for old ones, or imitate others. Neither of these approaches will work at a moment of great change and challenge.”
Since the elections, Labour ministers have appeared to shift focus towards migration and crime — key areas in which Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has dominated headlines with his tough rhetoric. But the IPPR insists that such a move is strategically flawed and ultimately counterproductive.
“The populist right’s brand is strengthened, not weakened, when progressives try to copy it,” the report notes. “The challenge is not to echo their grievances, but to address the underlying causes with progressive ideas and solutions.”
Labour’s historical instinct, the report argues, has been to look backwards in times of uncertainty — to the achievements of the 1945 Attlee government or the electoral successes of the Blair-Brown years. However, the IPPR cautions that these eras were shaped by entirely different contexts and challenges.
“Their world has dissolved, so their ideas are out of date,” it says. “The rising salience of national borders, the erosion of faith in global finance, and the fragmented media landscape all mean the so-called ‘Third Way’ no longer fits the world we live in.”
Instead of defence or apology, the report calls for Labour to go on the offensive with a renewed sense of purpose. It urges the party to become “a disruptor, not a defender, of the status quo” and to “shift from defence to offence, from reactive to proactive, from apology to confidence”.
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David Miliband echoed this view, stating that bold new thinking is essential for a Labour government to succeed — not just politically, but socially and economically. “We need a virtuous circle of social, political and economic renewal, in which security and opportunity reinforce each other,” he wrote.
He added that while the lessons of 1945 and 1997 remain relevant in terms of political strategy, the policies of those periods are “time-bound” and should not simply be recycled.
The report concludes by suggesting Labour, due to the length of time expected before the next general election, is well-placed to play a “co-ordinating role” among progressive parties globally. It calls for a concerted effort to build a new intellectual foundation for progressive governance in an era likely to be marked by instability and disruption.
“Now is the time to forge the ideas of tomorrow,” the IPPR urges. “Not to follow, but to lead.”
