If you are anything like me, you want a Labour majority at the next general election: you want a Starmaggeddon, you want a Nand-slide, you want a renewed Red Wall with Red Ramparts and battlements and in-roads into the Home Counties. I joined Labour after the 2010 election defeat and, though rather turned off by the leadership over the past five years, have remained a member since. You take solace wherever you can find it: May chucking away her majority; today’s renewed hopes for progress. But tough times can spur you on to action. What I wouldn’t give to hear Professor Sir John Curtis – the most powerful man in British politics – coolly call it for Sir Keir...

The question for us as Fabians, and young Fabians in particular, is what to do about it. I am delighted that the Young Fabians committee is taking seriously efforts to galvanise Fabians outside of London and in particular in those parts of the country we need to take back. The charge that progressive politics are practically and intellectually too London-focussed is not wrong. The Labour movement is and has always been pan-UK. I know very well from my own experience on Tyneside that the often-overlooked parts of our country are chock-full with young and progressive intellectual talent.

To that end, I, with the support of the YF committee, am exploring the establishment of a Young Fabians North East branch. There is going to be an exploratory meeting on Wednesday, 20 May 2020 via Zoom. You can register for the event and see my pitch here. If you’re from the North East, please join us. There’s also a Yorkshire group on the go. If you’re based in other parts of the country, think about how you might galvanise Young Fabians where you are.

I envisage Speaker Events, blog contributions and a yearly pamphlet. But the main aim must, I think, be finding a way to bring Young Fabians together to discuss and challenge ourselves on the political and, yes, electoral issues that are specific to us in the North East and to do so outside of the structures and strictures of Branch and CLP meetings.

I am really looking forward to seeing you on the call and to working with you.

Grahame Anderson

Grahame is an Employment and Equalities Barrister at Littleton Chambers and the North-East Law Centre. He is also Chair of the Society of Labour Lawyers’ Employment Group.

Follow him on Twitter @BarGrahame