After my conversations this week with their MPs and Momentum, I'm finally starting to feel optimistic about Labour's future

Momentum is now using a similar model to grassroots Democrat-supporting groups in the US, and it looks positive

Labour has lost touch with many voters in the party’s traditional Northern, Midlands and Welsh heartlands. That’s one of the few things on which people from almost every faction of the party can basically agree. Current polling, in the Midlands particularly, makes it hard to deny. Unless something changes dramatically, Labour is en route to a general election wipeout. It’s hard to overemphasise the potential scale of the disaster, and the urgent need to do something to tackle the problem.

The point at which you start to find disagreement is when you begin discussing what “doing something” would actually involve. Some argue that it’s necessary to triangulate to wherever voters happen to be at this moment in time – which is often assumed to involve chasing Ukip on certain key policy issues. The “immigration debate” is complex, not least because it’s nigh-on impossible to separate out “legitimate concerns” about the possible economic impact of immigration and generalised xenophobic sentiment.

Even putting aside possible moral objections to this strategy, Labour doesn’t only have voters who want to reduce immigration to worry about. Not only will trying to outdo Ukip on this issue fail – voters simply don’t believe such rhetoric when it comes from Labour – it also risks alienating target voters with very different opinions, often located in larger metropolitan centres and disproportionately drawn from ethnic minority or immigrant backgrounds. Labour desperately needs to find a line on the EU and free movement that can appeal to a sufficiently broad spectrum of voters, but that one policy issue can’t be at the centre of its electoral strategy.

I spoke to Shadow Minister without Portfolio Andrew Gwynne recently, who thinks the route forward is quite simple: Labour needs to get out into local communities and actually talk to people about their various issues and concerns. “During our recent campaign day, I joined activists in Sale, where we campaigned on doorsteps in an area where voters do not usually vote Labour,” he explained. “This wasn’t only about posting leaflets and telling people about our campaign, but about listening to people, some of whom expressed an alienation from the political process.”

My own feeling is that if this is going to work, it must go far beyond the occasional campaign day that has long been a standard part of Labour’s strategy. MPs and activists need to be intimately aware of the issues concerning people at a local level, involved in community campaigns and actively working to support leaders and potential future politicians emerging from these grassroots projects. It’s the diametric opposite to the Blair-years tactic of parachuting in candidates, which many people involved in the party feel contributed to the detachment between certain MPs and the constituencies they serve. The party is launching a Labour Organising Academy which will hopefully help equip existing activists with relevant skills.

One challenge will be overcoming resentment of Labour-led councils, which have faced bigger budget cuts, on average, than those in Conservative parts of the country and have struggled to maintain funding for essential services. Without real, deep connections between the local party and the wider community, it’s impossible to convey that it’s central government which is really to blame for cuts at a local level.

This isn’t the let Labour completely off the hook, though. Even with budget restrictions, there’s more that could be done to engage with grassroots groups fighting back – the Defend the 10 campaign for Lambeth Libraries being one relatively high-profile example.

Over in the US, left-wing activists are convinced that community organising is going to be the key to future electoral success. When I interviewed Democratic Socialists of America representative Christian he outlined the organisation’s 50-state strategy. Power is devolved to local chapters, allowing members to focus on issues most relevant in their area: “In Texas our chapter is really strong and we do a lot of work on immigration reform, working with undocumented communities, whereas Boston obviously doesn’t have to deal with that so much,” he explained.

The DSA’s relationship with the Democrats mirrors that between Momentum and Labour in that both aim to pull the parties they’re associated with in a modernised, leftwards direction. There’s recently been some controversy over power structures and decision-making processes in Momentum, but it’s still possible the group could provide the army of grassroots activists Labour needs in the constituencies it’s at risk of losing.

I spoke to a national Momentum representative, who told me that many local groups have already launched relevant initiatives. “Stockport Momentum collect food and clothing for local charities at every meeting,” she offered as on an example. “Momentum groups in Manchester are organising a community screening of I, Daniel Blake in an old miners’ club – the screening is sold out, but instead of charging for tickets the group will be taking food and clothing donations. Many groups on Southern Rail lines, such as Hastings, Lewisham and Croydon, joined RMT picket lines and raised awareness in their communities about why Southern Rail workers were taking action and Labour’s policy to re-nationalise the railways.”

Whether or not community organising is a complete solution to Labour’s woes, it feels like an important step in the right direction. Having spent the past several months despairing at the party’s abysmal polling, I’m starting to feel something new and unfamiliar. It’s confusing, and the melancholy hasn’t completely lifted yet, but I think it might be… hope?