Mind the gap
Rt. Hon David Lammy, MP for Tottenham
David Lammy studied law at the School of Oriental and African
Studies Law School, before being admitted to the Bar of England
and Wales in 1994. David later became the first Black Briton to study
a Masters in Law at the Harvard Law School. Following a by-election
in 2000, he became MP for Tottenham, his place of birth. David
served as a Minister during the previous Labour government.
Twitter - @DavidLammy
In recent election cycles, the Labour party has awakened to the need to target rural
areas, and to support rural Constituency Labour Parties. The paradigm of Labour
holding the cities and the Conservatives holding the countryside no longer rings true.
This has required some fresh thinking and new techniques, as seen in ongoing
Movement for Change organising on improving public transport frequency to more
isolated rural areas.
“The paradigm of Labour holding the cities and the Conservatives
holding the countryside no longer rings true”
Labour has long been confident in its ability to own the inner city vote. This applies to
election results not just in London, but also in Northern cities such as Leeds and
Sheffield. With this confidence came an acceptance of Labour’s lack of appeal to the
suburbs – a sort of picket fence in the collective party mind. We surrendered the
territory of outer London to Lynton Crosby, and pre-recession, it was a strategy which
served the Conservatives well.
It is time to challenge both of these assumptions. Firstly, to understand the extent to
which the inner/outer London division can be maintained in light of demographic
change. Secondly, to look again at key voter issues in the suburbs in the light of these
changes, in addition to the climate of austerity and the cost of living increases.
Nor is this a phenomenon that is unique to the United Kingdom. Suburb-dwellers
now account for a third of all Americans living in poverty, with poverty in the suburbs
increasing twice as quickly as poverty in urban areas. At the same time, a number of
urban areas are enjoying growth periods.
The suburbs have long been associated with what can broadly be called ‘aspiration’.
This is a legacy that goes back to post World War Two London, when slum housing
and poor public health dominated the inner city. Getting out meant moving up. Years
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