The voluntary sector is “essential” to the Labour Party’s plans for a decade of renewal, its leader has said, as he set out a vision for how his government would work with charities.
Sir Keir Starmer told an audience of voluntary sector leaders in London this morning that he was asking them and the broader sector to work with his party as it aimed to achieve what he called a “society of service”.
Starmer took aim at the Conservative Party’s relationship with the voluntary sector and criticised it for seeking to stoke so-called “culture wars” in its “desperation to cling onto power at all costs”.
He told the event, organised by the think tank Pro Bono Economics and featuring a host of shadow cabinet members, that the relationship between government and the sector needed to be reset.
“We want to harness civil society as one of the three key engines of renewal, working alongside the private and public sectors,” he said.
“We know we will need to partner with organisations on the ground in order to make this happen.
“Civil society isn’t just a nice news story in a local newspaper, something we can feel warm and fluffy about. It’s essential if we are going to get our economy back on track and achieve the highest sustained growth in the G7.”
Starmer went on to say: “I want today to mark an important milestone towards implementing an action plan on how a future Labour government would work with civil society for a society of service.
“We will work with you on every single one of Labour’s missions, getting the NHS back on its feet, tearing down the barriers to opportunity, growing the economy in all parts of the country, getting to clean power by 2030 and making our streets safer.
He said charities should feel that they could speak up on behalf of the people they serve without fear – “Calling out injustice where you see it and continuing to push us all to do better.”
Starmer told delegates that mission-led government was about partnership and devolving power to communities.
He said Labour’s door was open to “welcome anyone who wants to make our national life better to take their place at the table”.
He added: “It isn’t just an invitation, it’s an ask.”
Starmer also pledged to bring experts together to develop long-term solutions to issues such as child poverty.
He said the voice of the voluntary sector had been ignored for too long.
“You are the glue that bridges the gaps and binds government, business and communities together and you reach into the places that the public and private sectors cannot, “ he said.
“Creating space, literally, for people to come together.”
He said: “Imagine for a moment, a government committed to working with you, not doing things to you.
“Imagine if we could turn our attention from firefighting to the long-term renewal this country needs.
“That’s my pledge to you. If it’s my privilege to be elected to serve this year, we will work with you on our mission for a decade of national renewal.”
During the speech Starmer also addressed the culture wars that had affected charities in recent years, saying that the Conservative Party seemed “set on savaging civil society to save their own skins”.
He said: “They have got themselves so tangled up in culture wars of their own making that instead of working with the RNLI… to find real solutions to help stop the boats, their rhetoric has demonised them.
“Instead of working with the National Trust so more people can find out about and celebrate culture and our history, they managed to demean their work. It is desperation to cling onto power at all costs.”
Starmer said the Conservatives were were trying to find “‘woke’ agendas in the very select institutions they once regarded with respect”.
He said: “Waging a war on the proud spirit of service in this country isn’t leadership, it’s desperate, it’s divisive, it’s damaging. It comes to something when the Tories are at war with the National Trust.”