Pioneer, not paper, candidates | Progress | News and debate from ...

The Labour party loves challenges: 211 seats where we sit in third place, on average 19,000 votes behind the incumbent; just 10 MPs across the south out of a possible 197.

The speakers and delegates attending the inaugural Third Place First conference in Reading at the end of last month showed their determination to prove there are ?no no-go areas for Labour?. The gathering was grassroots Labour at its finest ? members from CLPs across the south and beyond with a passion for delivering a Labour voice in every part of the country.

Caroline Flint, the shadow cabinet?s regional champion for the south-east, delivered a keynote address whose message was simple, but is one that in the past has eluded the top-down election campaign strategy of the party: ?if we fight, we can win?.

It is not just the party that benefits from this type of strategy. Labour?s message of fairness must be made applicable to everyone in society, she said. People in the south are ?no less angry, no less worried and no less concerned? about the cost of the coalition?s economic policy. That is reason enough to adopt a coherent policy and campaign strategy to win in the south. Flint urged the party to prove we ?are a one-nation party? speaking for all corners of the country.

That was core to the 1997 election strategy, though it was not sustained, suggested party deputy leader Harriet Harman. In her address she said it was ?blindingly obvious? that Labour must seek at every election to gain seats rather than just retain them. That means moving away from the mindset of having ?paper candidates? and regarding them as ?pioneer candidates?, promoting Labour values in new areas.

Iain McNicol, Labour?s general secretary, offered a glimpse of the type of Labour party he hopes to create. It is his ?expectation? that activists and CLPs from London reciprocate the commitment shown to the 2012 London campaigns by members from the south.

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Alex White is an intern at Progress and tweets @AlexWhiteUK. For more on Third Place First, click here.

Caroline Flint MP, Harriet Harman MP, Iain McNicol, one nation Labour, Southern England, Third Place First

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