"How can Labor level Britain where the Tories have failed?"

Since my student days in the run up to New Labor victory in 1997, we simply haven't made enough progress to bring down the barriers between the 'haves'" and the 'have-nots', writes Professor Graeme Atherton

Riding up was to be the centerpiece of Boris Johnson's government's national agenda after the 2019 election. But by any measure, inequality is set to rise unless something is done quickly, the UK on track to become the most unequal country in the G7 by 2027.

This threw down the gauntlet on opposition parties, especially Labour. Reducing inequality has been at the heart of what Labor has stood for since its birth over 100 years ago. And issues of inequality are at the heart of voters in many of the seats Labor must win if they are to form the next government.

Our new How Can Labor Level Up? brings together contributions from former ministers, leaders from the higher education and voluntary sectors, and thinkers and organizations from all political walks of life. Making the upgrade work is more than just a political quick fix for me.

I grew up in the 1980s in a council estate in Blackpool when, under the Thatcher government, regional inequalities were widening. Blackpool is still feeling the impact of the recessions of the 1980s on the North as it is now one of the poorest areas in Britain.

I was lucky enough to be the first in my community to go to university and Oxford where I studied alongside people for whom poverty was literally another world. But since my student days in the run-up to New Labor victory in 1997, we simply haven't made enough progress to break down the barriers between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots'.

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That's why this new report aims to offer constructive ideas on how the Labor Party, indeed any future government, can reinvigorate the race to the top and tackle deep-rooted inequalities. The contributors do not refrain from presenting the magnitude of the challenge, but they also present equal solutions.

They are examining the need for a change of power. West of England Mayor Dan Norris is clear about the problems he has faced in tackling inequality due to the incomplete nature of devolution at present. They examine how to go from childhood to work.

Labour adviser and skills adviser Praful Nargund makes the case for better wages for apprentices and the importance of green investment to support the race to the top.

The workplace is at the center of upgrading. Justine Greening, former Secretary of State for Education and now Chair of the Purpose Coalition, advocates for companies to expand measurement of employee socio-economic background.

Lord John Bird, co-founder of The Big Issue, argues that we must pull together all our resources, working through a new Department of Poverty. The question of power and its distribution is a difficult one.

Danny Dorling, professor of geography at Oxford University, points out that inequality will only shrink when those who have more have less. Labor failed to reduce inequality when they came to power because those at the top kept hoarding more.

Redistribution is the reality of the fight against inequality. Labour's job here is not to change its own mindset but the British mindset on redistribution, to normalize this in a way that is normalized in other countries.

The last time Labor won an election after a long spell out of power was on a platform of revival with a move from old to 'new' Labour. Something similar is required when it comes to upgrading.