We need a new vision of the good life from which to build our politics

For decades, politicians have felt their main task is to expand the economy – and since 2008 they haven’t even done a good job at that, writes Hugo Dixon

David Cameron was ‘tepid’ in his defence of the values of the European Union during the referendum campaign (Getty)

Brexit is not our last battle. There will be more to come – such as to stop the climate frying and prevent the pollution of our democracy with yet more lies. So we don’t lose those too, we must learn the lessons of recent years. Here are four.

Liberalism is in crisis

When Brexiters sneer at the “liberal elite”, they are onto something. As traditional culture has disappeared, lots of people are losing their bearings. Populists on both sides of the Atlantic have preyed on them, whipping up concerns about “identity”.

The solution is not to throw away what is good about liberalism. We need to continue the fight against oppression. Women, black people, the LGBT+ community, Muslims and other minorities still suffer discrimination in our society.

But we should also recognise that liberalism has too often descended into an arid materialism. For decades, politicians of the centre-left and centre-right have felt their main task is to expand the economy – and, since the credit crisis of 2008, they haven’t even done a particularly good job at that.

What we need is a new vision for a good life – one that is more meaningful and ecologically sound – and we need to build our politics around that.

When they go low, we go high

The people don’t trust politicians – and for good reason. Most tell lies or half-truths, fail to keep their promises and don’t practise what they preach.

The devilish trick played by populists has been to use this breakdown in trust to their advantage. Since the people don’t believe politicians in the first place, there’s no harm in telling an even bigger lie – so long as you say it with panache. The voters will back you because they find you entertaining or “authentic”.

We are now at risk of a downward spiral. Aspiring politicians may think they just need to be ever more dishonest to get ahead. Some will say that we need to stop being naive and take a leaf from the populists’ book: when they go low, we should go still lower. But that would be a mistake. Not only would it undercut our core values, but we would also be fighting the populists on the terrain where they are experts, and that is rarely the best way to win battles.

It would be better to outflank them by taking the high road – and making common cause with those who are disaffected by dishonest politics. But to do that, we will need to pick our leaders well. We will need to rely less on career politicians and more on those who are coming from outside the system and who haven’t been corrupted by it.

Get out of the big cities and listen

That other critique about pro-Europeans being “metropolitan” also has some truth to it. The political world in the UK is far too London-centric. Parliament is there; so is most of the media. It’s too easy to get trapped in the capital.

But the country is divided. Other large cities – Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Sheffield and so forth – are doing well, but many smaller towns have never properly recovered from deindustrialisation, and desperately need help.

The Brexiteers played that divide brilliantly, both in the referendum and the election. Boris Johnson is absolutely right that we need to invest tens of billions in forgotten parts of the country, though it’s a mystery where he is going to find the money.

We need to get out of the big cities and listen much more to what people care about. We also need a longer-term solution. We must decentralise power, so that local people have a much greater say in what happens in their communities.

Speak with passion

Honest politics doesn’t have to be dour and technocratic, and yet too often the pro-European cause came across as bloodless. There was too much discussion of legal complexity, and not enough red meat.

The Brexiteers were full of vim and vigour, especially in the referendum when they still believed in their project. They may have played fast and loose with the facts, but they came across as true believers in their cause. The leaders of the pro-European camp, by contrast, often gave the impression of not knowing quite why they were fighting to stay in the EU. David Cameron was tepid in the referendum; Jeremy Corbyn damned the EU with faint praise.

Both then and since, we failed to make the positive case for being in the EU. We failed to show that we would be better able to fix the things people care about such as the NHS or the climate crisis if we stayed in. And not surprisingly, we failed to convince enough voters.

In the next battles, we will need passion. Yes, let it be guided by wise arguments and let it respect the truth. But let it flow.

That way, we can win.

Hugo Dixon is a journalist and political campaigner