“Now go out and make me do it”

The progressive ecosystem under a progressive government “You've convinced me. I agree with what you've said. Now go out and make me do it.” Franklin D. Roosevelt, to a group of progressive activists1 “To be blunt … most decision-makers do not think about progressive NGOs [nongovernmental organisations] for more than a few minutes in any day”. Former adviser to a progressive prime minister “We are the masters now” was the triumphant claim from a Labour peer in 1945 after Labour's landslide post-war victory.2 Even governments with small majorities, assuming they maintain some semblance of discipline, have enormous power to govern unilaterally. Governments with huge majorities, like Keir Starmer's new administration, have even greater scope to govern without reference to stakeholders such as the progressive ecosystem. “how to ensure that the new progressive government is actually progressive” 38 Degrees is a campaigning community with a broad base. We have almost one million supporters – more than 1,000 of them in every single constituency in the country. That broad base means we have supporters who voted for every party at the last general election, and supporters who didn't vote at all. We're backed by people with a fierce desire for change, matched by the sort of pragmatism that everyday people tend to have. We're not all, as one cabinet minister recently alleged, “middle-class lefties”. Our community isn't just activists. We come from all walks of life and all parts of the country. Politicians would do well to give our supporters a hearing. “It was grim but straightforward” At the time of writing, Labour is already showing us how much more complex the campaign world is now. Our supporters have celebrated announcements on issues they've campaigned on for years, been disappointed by a lack of progress on other issues, and found some announcements outrageous. The lifting of a ban on onshore windfarms, the scrapping of the Rwanda plan and taking rail into public ownership have been celebrated. Kicking a decision on the two-child benefit cap, which has pushed hundreds of thousands of children into poverty, into the long grass has been met with disappointment. And scrapping the winter fuel allowance for all but the very, very poorest pensioners has provoked outrage. So how does an organisation like ours balance the need to speak out, without fear or favour, with the possibilities of engagement with the new government, while being laser-focussed on the battle for progress and the battle for public opinion in an increasingly volatile political environment? To better understand the challenges we would face with a transition from a conservative to a progressive government, we spoke to colleagues around the world to hear from people who had been there and done that. We talked to people who run 38 Degrees-like organisations in Australia, Canada, Germany and the US. I spent a day with friends who run progressive groups talking about how they engage with the White House, and then talked with people in the White House about how they work with progressive groups on the outside. And, importantly, we spoke to our supporters, in as many different ways as possible, to find out what they would expect from us in a new environment. We had three big takeaways. “Access is a tactic, not an outcome” Third, we will continue to press the government for action on the issues our supporters care about, but we will also remember to raise a voice for our values in the country as a whole. This is a strategic point as well as a tactical one. We know that the most influential tool for persuading politicians of all hues is public opinion. Our people-powered approach aims to mobilise people from all walks of life, who vote for all parties and none, to show the people in office that the public want change. That's just smart campaigning. But there is a bigger point too: we live in a politically volatile time. The government won a big majority on a relatively small vote share, in an election with a low turnout. At the same time, in countries across Europe and the US, the politics of the radical right is on the march – and the far right have inflicted violent riots across the country. Progressives must always have an eye on the battle for public opinion and the need to show voters that our values of fairness, respect and sustainability are relevant to their lives and can improve the communities we all live in. “Progressives must always have an eye on the battle for public opinion” I have focussed here on the lessons for progressive campaigning organisations like ours from around the world. But there are lessons for the government in our research too. First, there are advantages for the progressive ecosystem of positively engaging with a progressive government, but there are advantages for the administration too. The government can get a hearing from progressives who, while likely to be demanding and never quite satisfied, do want the government to succeed. Engagement can also ensure that policies are tested and honed. And progressives can be allies in the battle for public opinion, and against the special interests who want to see the government fail. But it takes two to tango. For a relationship to work, let alone flourish, the government will need to invest in it, in two ways. It needs to learn to trust the progressive ecosystem. Governing is hard, and it can be made harder by progressives publicly complaining that you are not doing enough. But that's what we're there for. And the government needs to learn to power through the frustration and be strategic about the bigger gains that come from developing strong relationships. This takes time. Government advisers are extremely time-poor but nurturing strong relationships is not something that can be done on the margins. The Biden administration, like the Obama government before it, has dedicated staff resources focussed on this work. “the government needs to learn to power through the frustration and be strategic” It has been such a long time since progressives have grappled with the good problem of how to engage with a progressive ecosystem. We will all have to learn how to get it right. Progressives won't be satisfied by this new government, because by our nature we always want to keep moving forward. I am writing this piece three weeks after the general election. Already, big steps forward have been made, on clean energy, on taking back control of our public transport, on protecting our national sport, on rescinding the worst Tory policies on immigration. It is early days, so it would be trite to say there is so much more to do. But there will always be more to do – and it is our job as progressive campaigning organisations to demand that change. We're not going to stop doing that but we want to do it alongside celebrating success, persuading the public that the good changes are good, and defending progress from the forces that would stall or stop it. Where the balance between that work falls will depend on how much progress the government is able to deliver. Matthew McGregor is the chief executive officer of 38 Degrees. He has worked for campaign groups, unions and political parties in the UK, Australia, the US and Scandinavia. He served as director of digital rapid response for President Obama's re-election campaign in 2012.

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