Today, Labour has been given a lifeline.

Andy Burnham’s election as Leader of the Labour Party marks the beginning– not the end– of the party’s long journey to a new politics of democracy, pluralism and radicalism.

From here, a transformative progressive project can be constructed. But it will require much more than righting the wrongs of Starmer’s leadership and a Cabinet reshuffle. To succeed in ‘ending business as usual’ and rolling back 40 years of neoliberalism, Burnham’s Labour Party must be prepared to do politics very differently, for very different ends.

It is the public’s furious hunger for change that enabled Burnham to become Leader of the Labour Party. And it is that same hunger that will punish failure to deliver big change.

A clear break with the current economic and democratic settlement must be delivered. 

This starts with restoring public ownership of– not just control over– essentials such as water; ending the democratic injustice of our rotten political system by introducing Proportional Representation and abolishing the House of Lords; and building a new political economy that taxes wealth and not just work, protects both people and planet, and guarantees the essentials for a good life for all.

None of this will be possible without ending the culture of hyperfactionalism that has so devastated the Labour Party.

They must understand the nature of our two-bloc, multi-party politics and learn to form alliances in a spirit of radical pluralism.

They must build the ideas, culture and deep political organisation needed to create change in a permacrisis world and confront the forces of orthodoxy.

For over twenty years, Compass has brought together people across political parties and civil society to build the ideas, relationships and campaigns needed to create a more equal, democratic and sustainable Britain.

Now we have a rare opportunity to turn those ideas into reality.

But only if we are strong enough to seize it.

Progressives of all stripes should welcome this opportunity for the country to turn a page, but the next chapter is yet unwritten.

It is up to all of us to ensure that we ‘end business as usual’ and build a Good Society.