ABOUT

Mainstream is a network initiated by Labour members of Compass and the Open Labour National Committee with the support of many others from across the Labour Party and labour movement.

The energy generated at Compass’ major conference in May 2025 - CHANGE: HOW? A Decade of Radical Renewal - made clear the need to build for a bolder vision, policy platform and strategy within the Labour Party.

Mainstream will enable the ideas generation and organising needed if Labour is to transform the country and take on the populist right in 2029.

Polling completed by Survation on behalf of Compass in early August 2025 revealed overwhelming support amongst the Labour Party membership for a more radical offer on democracy, the economy, child poverty and much more. We believe the voices of these radical realists, the vast majority of the Labour Party, must be heard and heeded.

91%
of Labour Party members support
taxing the wealth of the richest in our society
92%
of Labour Party members support
public ownership of essential utilities
84%
of Labour Party members support
an end to the two-child benefit limit

FOUNDING STATEMENT

The home for Labour’s Radical Realists - United by Values, Driven by Change

Mainstream is the home for Labour’s radical realists - those who know that to win again in 2029 we must offer the country not just a programme, but a vision of hope: a popular, principled and practical left politics for meaningful change.

Radical realism is the belief that big change is possible - and the commitment to make it both practical and popular. It means setting out how citizens, the state, civil society, and our Party can work hand in hand to transform our society for the better.

It means putting equity and justice at the heart of everything Labour does. It means rejecting an economy based on inequality and environmental destruction, and instead building one that shares the resources our society needs.

It means fighting for public services that meet these needs, inspire pride in collective provision and are built on long-term investment and the wisdom of the workers and users who sustain them. It means standing for the human rights and dignity of every person, defending liberty, protest and social protection at home and abroad, along with strong defences tied to democracy and the rule of international law.

It means recognising that our broken democracy must be remade through pluralism and dispersing power as widely and deeply as possible. It means forging cross-class alliances in every corner of our country and working with social movements for a democratic socialist future. And it understands that authoritarian populism can only be defeated by creating a national community that truly belongs to all of its people, and delivers for all of its people.

And finally, it means starting with Labour itself – unlocking the wisdom, talents and energy of all our members and supporters to lead the change our country so urgently needs.

Mainstream is the home for a popular left with heart and vision - radical in purpose, realistic in method, united in spirit. By galvanising the mainstream of our Party, we can win and we can transform Britain. 

Join us.

Mainstream is a new network that will:

  • Be an open, welcoming place for all Labour members and supporters to discuss the vision, values, policy and electoral strategy of the Party.
  • Publish and hold events across the country to generate real debate that leads to robust and ambitious ideas, policies and strategies for a democratic socialist future. 
  • Campaign on economic, social, democratic and environmental issues that will defeat authoritarian populism at the ballot box and win hearts and minds for the long-term transformation of our country. 
  • Work to ensure the Labour Party is democratic and that the voices and views of all members are heard, respected and heeded.

SIGNATORIES

Andy Burnham
Labour Mayor of Greater Manchester

Clive Efford
Labour MP for Eltham & Chislehurst, Chair of the Tribune Group of MPs

Paula Barker
Labour MP for Liverpool Wavertree

Clive Lewis
Labour MP for Norwich South

Olivia Blake
Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam

Alex Sobel
Labour MP for Leeds Central & Headingley

Dawn Butler
Labour MP for Brent East

Rachael Maskell
MP for York Central

Dr Simon Opher
Labour MP for Stroud

Chris Hinchliff
MP for North East Hertfordshire

Peter Lamb
Labour MP for Crawley

John Denham
Former Labour MP for Southampton Itchen, Former Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and for Innovation, Universities and Skills

Baroness Ruth Lister
Vice Chair of the Compass Board

Lord Larry Whitty
Former General Secretary of the Labour Party

Baroness Anna Healy
Former Adviser to Harriet Harman

Lord Stewart Wood
Former Adviser to Ed Miliband

Sir Geoff Mulgan
Former Director of Policy at 10 Downing Street under Tony Blair

David Ward
Former Head of Policy to John Smith

Michael Jacobs
Former Adviser to Gordon Brown

Jon Cruddas
Former Labour MP for Dagenham & Rainham, Former Labour Party Policy Coordinator

Lord Alf Dubs
Former Labour MP for Battersea South and for Battersea

Fiona Mactaggart
Former Labour MP for Slough, Former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Criminal Justice, Race and Victims

Clare Short
Former Labour MP for Birmingham Ladywood, Former Secretary of State for International Development

Henry Tinsley
Chair of Left Foot Forward

Neal Lawson
Director of Compass, Former Adviser to Gordon Brown

Jon Lansman
Founder of Momentum

Sam Tarry
Former Labour MP for Ilford South

Sandy Martin
Former Labour MP for Ipswich

John Grogan
Former Labour MP for Selby and for Keighley

Paul Sweeney
Labour MSP for Glasgow

Jeremy Gilbert
Co-Author of Hegemony Now:
How Big Tech and Wall Street Won the World (And How We Win it Back) (2022)

Glyn Ford
Former Labour MEP for Greater Manchester East and for South West England

Julie Ward
Former Labour MEP for North West England and Chartist Editorial Board Member

Alan Finlayson
Chair of the Editorial Board of Renewal: A Journal of Social Democracy

Stewart Lansley
Author of The Richer, The Poorer: How Britain Enriched the Few and Failed the Poor (2021)

Kate Pickett
Co-Author of The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger (2009)

Jovan Owusu-Nepaul
2024 Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Clacton

Zoe Williams
Journalist and Commentator

Jon Bloomfield
Co-Author of The Little Black Book of the Populist Right (2024)

Mike Davis
Editor of Chartist

Sue Goss
Former Chair of the Labour Coordinating Committee

Fran Boait
2019 Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Gloucester

Mark Perryman
Author of The Corbyn Effect (2017) and The Starmer Symptom (2025)

Luke Hurst
Compass

Frances Foley
Compass

Mark Cooke
Compass

Kerry Postlewhite
Open Labour National Committee

Pablo John
Open Labour National Committee

Cllr Lauren Davison
Open Labour National Committee

Cllr Josie Parkhouse
Open Labour National Committee

Don Flynn
Managing Editor of Chartist

Teresa Pearce
Former Labour MP for Erith & Thamesmead, Former Member of Labour's National Constitutional Committee

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For press and media enquiries: info@mainstreamlabour.org, 07808527465
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