I’ve lived the benefits of diversity – and that’s why I’m standing for the Labour leadership

My heritage gave me an incredible gift. It taught me how to forge a new identity through commonality. That’s exactly what the party needs if we’re going to change for the better

The last few years have been a tumultuous time for ethnic minorities and migrants in the UK. A toxic debate around Brexit has unleashed a torrent of racism into British society, leading to a climate of fear and a sharp rise in hate crimes and racist attacks since the 2016 referendum. Labour’s inability to deal effectively with the antisemitism crisis has contributed to a sense of division between our communities, which we urgently need to address. There is no hierarchy of discrimination or racism, everyone deserves to live without fear and feel heard and the first job of any aspiring prime minister is to help our people live together harmoniously.

The issue of identity has become one of the most toxic political footballs of our times. All over the world, far-right parties are exploiting economic inequality and failed austerity policies to create an ugly political framework of Us vs Them, of division and bigotry. We must stand up to this, not only by urgently restructuring our economic model to fit the needs of the modern workforce and impending climate crisis, but also by putting forward an alternative, positive vision for our country. A vision of a country that is inclusive and tolerant, that listens to the needs of its local communities and believes in building bridges between them. A vision that is built from the bottom up so every part of our society feels it has ownership over its destiny. To do that we need a new narrative of what it means to be British, post-Brexit. The campaign for remaining in the EU is over. Now, we have to campaign for the kind of country we want to be as the process of leaving unfolds.

Today, the Labour Party faces a choice. Do we triangulate to the right and attempt to mimic their frames around migration and a distorted view of patriotism, that contributes to the country becoming more xenophobic, isolationist and inward-looking? Or do we champion the benefits of internationalism, put forward the economic and cultural case for migration, and build solidarity between our diverse communities through greater social and economic equality? Yes, we have to listen, but the onus must also be to lead – especially if what we hear is racist or runs counter to our values.

My lived experience, as a mixed-heritage black man, helps provide me with some possible answers. In many ways, the story of my family is the story of Britain. My Dad came to the UK from Grenada, one of the last bastions of the British Empire. Along with my English mum, we lived on a council estate in Northampton where, nearby, my Dad worked in a food processing factory and over time became increasingly involved in his trade union, eventually becoming a full-time trade union official for the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union. Alongside him in the factory worked my English granddad, a white working-class veteran of the Allied invasion of Normandy in the Second World War. On paper, you couldn’t have come up with two people with more different lives. But it was their shared values that made us work as a family and taught me that people, no matter what their differences are, have so much in common.

Growing up with both a white and a black family was confusing and challenging. The 1970s were a time of racist violence on the streets and in our schools. In my experience, getting taunted with racist language and the “Ain’t no black in the Union Jack” jingoism of the Seventies and Eighties was commonplace. But my mixed heritage also gave me an incredible gift. It taught me how to forge a new identity through commonality. For both sides of my family, despite their differences, could unite over their shared values of solidarity, trade unionism, socialism, compassion and respect.

My Granddad instilled in me a great sense of civic duty through his stories of fighting the Nazis during the war. He also fostered a sense of black pride and struggle in me, as he taught me about colonial history. My sense of belonging didn’t come from some idealised construct of the past but was created in the present, through the everyday experiences of the people I grew up with. This sense of belonging based on shared values and interests is what I want to bring to our country now.

Part of this means not further compounding divisions in this country by creating a gulf between Labour voters in the north and midlands and that of Bame voters in the newer Labour heartlands of the inner cities.

It also means accepting that our political system is broken and our democratic institutions are not fit for purpose. They divide us through competition when they should bring us together through collaboration. We need radical change in order to bring about a cultural shift in this country and this has to include changing the electoral system, reforming our election rules, and not just paying lip service to devolution but actively engaging with the needs of people in Scotland and Wales.

I don’t have all the answers but I do know that the Labour Party can’t do this alone. For years, I’ve championed the need to build progressive alliances both inside and outside the Labour Party, to construct the broadest coalition of people to work together on issues we can agree on. The global rise of the far right is facilitated in part through their exceptional organisation. Progressive forces in the UK need to modernise and do the same. Just like in my life, diversity makes progressives stronger, not weaker. As Labour Party leader, I would prioritise building these alliances and putting aside our futile tribalism. This is how we can win.

The Labour Party has rescued the country from great crises before and we can do it again. But only when we are brave enough to change. In the 1930s it was the Labour movement that was the first to stand against fascism, and in 1945, when our country was broken after the end of the war, it was a Labour government that had a vision to rebuild the UK by creating shared public institutions such as the welfare state and the NHS. Today, the crisis we face, after a decade of austerity and 40 years of failed neo-liberal policies is just as severe. While I tip my hat to New Labour’s effective communications and election-winning formula, in 2024 we must win for a much deeper purpose.

The Green New Deal offers us a toolbox through which we can do this, to regenerate the country, create jobs, invest in the regions, build vital local infrastructure and crucially, introduce pioneering local participatory democracy initiatives. This is how we can build a collective vision of what identity means in modern Britain – through collective action. I love this country and it angers me that those in power are stretching it to destruction. That’s why I’m standing for Labour Party leader, I want to lead a country that truly serves all its people and is a beacon of hope for the rest of the world.

Clive Lewis is MP for Norwich South