Introductory Viewpoint from Kitty Ussher

14th August 2016

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Whatever your views on the most desirable qualities for the leader of the Labour party, there remains a need for all parts of our movement to have places to go where they can debate and socialise. Labour in the City was established in early 2012 to provide just that kind of forum: somewhere where Labour supporters working in finance and related professional services could network and talk about politics.

We are fundamentally a social grouping, and a diverse one at that. If we start spending our time thrashing out common policy positions on every conceivable issue then we will have failed: there are plenty of other places where that can be done. We are more like a school or college club that people choose to sign up to: if you know you are Labour and you work in the City, you’ll find some like-minded people here.

Whilst we may not have our own policy positions, we do offer people in our network a place where they can express their own views if they want to – and others are equally welcome to disagree with those views. To this end, as well as organising speaker meetings for discussion and debate, we want to use this website as a place where our members can publish opinion pieces on policy if they have something to say. All such pieces represent an individual’s personal views, not those of their employer or indeed any other corporate view.

On some aspects of policy, Labour in the City members have a unique perspective due to the technical nature of their dayjobs. As our constitution states, this can be a resource to the party if it chooses to use it. But regardless of the subject matter and the opinions expressed, there is also something else we can contribute almost by definition, namely a confidence that there is no contradiction between our Labour values and using our talents through working in the private sector. If we didn’t believe that, then we wouldn’t be here.
Kitty Ussher is Chair of Labour in the City and was City minister from 2007-08.