William Wallace writes…What should the Liberal Democrats be saying to the “left behind?”

What should the Liberal Democrats be saying to the 'Left Behind'? We've claimed a strong position as the voice of the 48%; but there are many among the 52% who are not illiberal at heart, and others who voted 'Sod off!' in the Referendum to London as much as to Brussels in their disillusion with politics and the distant elite. People who live on partly-sold off Council estates, or in places built to house workers in factories that closed 30 to 40 years ago, where local services have been steadily cut back and jobs are hard to get to, low paid and insecure, have some justifiable reasons to feel resentful .

Theresa May has spoken about the 'left behind' at the Davos World Economic Forum, but said little about what an' active state' (yes, she has used that term) should do to help them. Donald Trump in his inauguration speech promised 'the forgotten people' from globalisation that they will now be remembered, but didn't say what he would do to help them beyond putting up barriers to imports. The right-wing media in Britain have portrayed their problems as mostly down to fecklessness and immigrants - taking their jobs and the social housing they want to claim, weighing down the NHS. Labour is wavering over whether to give in to that narrative, or address more underlying problems.

But what do we want to say, consistent with our values, and without pandering to the 'blame the East Europeans' narrative? Liberal Democrat peers have set up a working group to address this, to feed into party campaigning in 'left behind' areas. The London-based media portrays the political choices for such voters as between Labour and UKIP (having forgotten the Lib Dem record in cities like Sheffield, Liverpool, Newcastle, Hull and elsewhere). We know that Labour has already lost their trust, and that local campaigning has created new pockets of Liberal Democrat support, with encouraging local by-election results in recent months. Our group includes peers with local government experience in northern cities and neglected rural areas; and we are drawing on a number of reports on the social and economic conditions of England's pockets of depression and deprivation.

We will be holding a consultation session at the Spring conference in York, on the Friday evening from 2015; do come and join us and contribute to our work. We're struck by how far the disruptive impact of industrial decline on what were cohesive working class communities is blamed by many who live there on the influx of immigrants, when shortage of social housing, poor-quality education and inadequate training for skills which qualify for better jobs are more direct causes. So we are looking for supporting evidence from different areas about what is happening in terms of social housing, local training skills, ease (or difficulty) of travelling to work in other places when buses have been privatised, and the impact of cuts on local services, from Sure Start to policing and FE colleges.

We invite contributions to the parallel discussion on the Members' Forum, to offer examples and evidence - and we look forward to conversations at the conference in York. What has been the impact of social housing being sold off, through subsequent transactions, to private landlords? Are schools in these areas suffering from difficulties in recruiting and retaining teachers, and what should we do about that? How damaging to such communities are the continuing cuts in local authority spending? And what positive examples can you offer of local initiatives that are overcoming some of the obstacles they face?

Do companies in your area recruit workers direct from Eastern Europe? If so, what is their justification for doing so? Building companies say that they cannot find skilled workers in the UK, trucking companies that they cannot find HGV drivers: but are there enough openings in local training schemes to supply local skilled workers, and are local companies prepared to train their own? Is your local LEP helping to pull together training initiatives and economic regeneration, or has it so far achieved little? Above all, what do you think should be priorities in turning around communities that have lost faith in government and lost hope in economic recovery? Do contribute to the Members' Forum, and come and join us to talk further in York.

* Lord Wallace of Saltaire is a Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords.