All candidates for the Labour leadership agree on one thing: Labour must appeal to the ‘aspirational’ voter who aspires to shop at Waitrose and John Lewis.
In Wisbech, it means that Labour must appeal to those voters who ‘aspire’ to shop at Tesco’s but currently shop at discounters such as Aldi, Lidl, Poundworld, 99p Store, QD, and Poundland.
Labour can appeal to the ‘aspirational’ voter in Fenland by supporting the TUC’s campaign for a £10 an hour minimum wage.
£10 an hour can easily be afforded by the supermarkets and food processing factories which dominate employment in Fenland.
Those businesses who say they cannot afford £10 an hour should open up their books to experts employed by trade unions such as Unite, the GMB, Usdaw, Unison, and the Bakers’ Union.
A campaign for £10 an hour will be central to Labour winning back those ‘aspirational’ voters in Fenland who voted Conservative or UKIP in the general election.
JOHN SMITHEE
Member, Unite the Union
Wisbech
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