Austerity and Modernisation, One Nation Labour: Localism, the Economy and Vocational Education and Training in England

The paper addresses national and global questions concerned with neoliberalism, social democracy and social justice. It explores a number of themes that arise from the British Labour Party’s policy review and its rebranding as One Nation Labour (ONL). In particular it addresses ONL’s approach to the economy, localism and vocational education and training in England by drawing a comparison with the policies of the Coalition government and New Labour. It argues that the policies of ONL are by no means new with many of these found in New Labour and the Coalition. It is suggested that the aspirations of ONL to refashion social democracy for austere times is compromised by the inherent capitalist nature of the economy. This poses the question as to how far the interest in social justice can be furthered in such circumstances.