Labour to use May vote to sharpen campaign ahead of general election

Labour will use the local elections in May to sharpen its campaign machine ahead of next year’s expected general election with new regional organisers, a bigger digital operation and the slogan “Build a Better Britain”.

Shadow cabinet ministers were given a presentation on their local election prospects by the party’s campaign director, Morgan McSweeney, on Tuesday as Labour attempts to turn its 20-point poll lead into votes.

With councils in England and 8,000 council seats up for grabs, the party sees the 4 May poll as an opportunity to road-test some its policy ideas on NHS waiting lists and safer streets, as well as the cost of living crisis, rather than just going on the attack.

In the next couple of months, the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, is set to unveil a handful of key “missions”, which will set the party’s direction of travel for government and be measurable, for example “boosting productivity” or “increasing real wages”. Each mission will be used as an umbrella for individual policies in the next election manifesto.

As the local elections approach, both main parties will be engaged in a game of intense expectation management. The Tories are starting from a low base as the last time these seats were fought was in 2019 when Theresa May led an unpopular government that was struggling to push Brexit through a hung parliament.

The Conservatives lost control of 44 councils and more than 1,300 council seats, the worst local election performance for the party since 1995. Labour, despite topping national polls, lost six councils and more than 80 seats, but will be held to a higher bar this time.

Prof Will Jennings, from the University of Southhampton, told the Guardian: “Because the Conservatives did so badly under Theresa May it might look like Rishi Sunak is holding steady, when actually he’s delivering a really quite poor set of results.

“If Labour is going to threaten the Conservatives at the next election, then we should expect to see them doing really well in some of those red wall seats. Labour is much more battle ready and professionally organised than it has been for some time”.

Labour hopes its new slogan, previously used by New Labour in 2008, will tap into a vision of a positive alternative for the country, rather than just focusing on winning anti-Tory votes. The slogan will be localised by replacing “Britain” with the name of target councils, for example “Build a Better Swindon”.

As Starmer’s party gears up to fight the general election, expected in autumn 2024 unless a dramatic improvement in the UK’s economic outlook prompts Sunak to bring it forward, Labour strategists are focusing on winning several different types of councils. These will be allocated resources depending on a score of one to four, sources said.

Campaign staff and resources will be concentrated on supporting candidates in traditional swing councils, like Plymouth, where Labour lost overall control in 2015, as well as places where they did badly last year like Sheffield, where they remain in coalition having failed to win overall control.

There will be a push to win back votes across the red wall, which could show that the party is recovering in its traditional heartlands, with seats on the five Teesside councils a target. Labour will be fighting to hold on to Sunderland, which it has run since its formation in 1974, but is under threat from the Tories.

The party has a small ring-fenced budget for the local election campaign – a contrast to last year when resources were eaten up by legal disputes – which will be spent on targeted campaigns, political broadcasts and a Starmer tour. It has also invested in trainee regional organisers, and digital training and media officers across the country.