A year on from Starmer’s Missions, who’s shaping them?

Yesterday morning, the Labour Leader Keir Starmer took to the stage in Bristol to make his first speech of the year. It’s election year, and as many political commentators would say, it will be the most important in decades (since the last one, anyway). In fact, over the next 12 months, 64 countries and almost 4 billion people will have the opportunity to vote for a new national government. It’s going to be a busy year…

A new year’s speech seems to be an annual tradition for Britain’s political leaders, and today marks a year since Starmer made another speech, one to announce his ‘5 Missions for a better Britain’. Throughout the last year, these Missions have formed the focal point of Labour campaigning, policy formation and political direction. Indeed, the Missions were plastered over every wall and banner of the party’s Liverpool Conference in October.

The Missions aim to both set out Labour’s vision for the UK’s most pressing challenges, such as tackling crime and cutting NHS waiting lists, whilst also setting out a future vision around growth and, crucially - breaking down barriers to opportunity.

Starmer and his relevant Shadow Cabinet Ministers spent the first six months of last year putting the ‘meat’ on each of these Missions, and whilst four of the five Missions are broadly defined to specific areas of government - growth, crime, health and energy - the fifth Mission to ‘break down barriers to opportunity’ is much broader, is arguably yet to be fully formed, and can take a cross-government approach to the challenge. It is the most complex, encompassing the whole of society, from education to employment, and beyond.

Founded by 1900 and having grown from the trade union and socialist parties of the previous century, the Labour Party proudly boasts of its ethos of equality and social justice, and breaking down barriers to opportunity is their Mission to put their values into action. It is, arguably, ‘Labour’s Mission’

It is this ambiguity, however, that opens up an opportunity for businesses, universities and the wider public sector to actively play their part in shaping the details of breaking down barriers. What it means, how it can and does differ from levelling up, and the role that external organisations will have to help a future government deliver on it.

That’s where the Purpose Coaliton comes into its own. Through our framework - the Purpose Goals - organisations such as bp, Virgin Money, Travelodge, the BBC, Centrica and many more are measuring and tracking their work, and shaping what breaking down barriers means in practice.

The fourteen Goals cover a wide variety of sectors and policy areas, from the early years to career progression, financial inclusion to sustaniable new communities. They offer a ready-made, holistic template that a Labour government could adapt and implement. This is particularly relevant in the post COVID world we still live in, where those inequalities are increasingly stark.

What makes this approach unique is its collaborative nature. Instead of a top-down policy imposition, it can be a dialogue, a partnership between government, businesses, universities and the wider public sector. It’s an opportunity for Starmer’s Labour to look beyond Westminster when crafting policy, and deliver on the promises made by Boris Johnson in 2019 to ‘level up’ that was so popular amongst swathes of the electorate.

In a year, Starmer’s Missions have brought some much needed clarity to Labour’s direction of policy, making specific pledges in the areas of health, crime and energy. There remains, however, a huge piece of work for organisations to help shape what breaking down barriers really means for a Labour government.

Businesses and wider society are crucial to shaping that, and the next 12 months is the year to make a mark.