This post is my response to Questions all Jeremy Corbyn supporters need to answer by Owen Jones

How can the disastrous polling be turned around?

Short answer: with great difficulty.

Long answer: by challenging the Conservative’s economic record and agenda day after day. Miliband’s 35% strategy (if it even existed) was vapid and wholly inadequate. Labour must of course work to secure the already existing anti-Tory vote as far as possible. However, we also need to win back those who voted Tory in marginal constituencies. I believe this is possible. There are a lot of people that voted for Cameron in 2015 because they were concerned about the fragility of the economic recovery. They were right to be concerned but wrong to think that Labour was the real threat. Under the Conservatives GDP growth has been mediocre, productivity and real wage growth awful and the current account deficit is at a record high and shows no sign of improving. Employment has been a bright spot, but the insecurity in work which many face is inextricably linked to the structural weaknesses in the economy. Brexit makes a bad situation even worse. A recession is a possibility and a slowdown almost inevitable. The Bank of England will most probably cut interest rates this week having spent six years telling everyone they will go up rather than down. A new round of QE might be necessary if things go as badly as some anticipate. If we can show people just how bogus the Tory’s ‘long term economic plan’ is then McDonnell’s plan of large scale investment will come to be seen as a viable and necessary alternative. This will be hard. The Conservatives have successfully brought public debate on such issues down to an absurdly simplified level. We need to find a way to convey relatively complex ideas about macroeconomics in a way that people can understand at a human level. One suggestion I have is to to localise these matters, for example by talking about economic problems in specific towns and cities. I also agree with Paul Mason that we need to seriously look at monetary policy and I would like to see a discussion about nominal GDP targeting.

Where is the clear vision?

It’s here. It is also here and here . It is at every Corbyn rally. Here’s the soundbite: ‘It doesn’t have to be like this’. Is that clear enough? Jones says for most people austerity is an abstraction. Guess what? For most people, politics is an abstraction. It’s still important The more urgent question is: where isn’t the clear vision? It’s not in the newspapers, not on the Six O Clock news, not on Radio 2, not even on Radio 4 . This is what must change.

3. How are the policies significantly different from the last general election?

They are more forceful, more ambitious and easier to communicate, even if the essential ideas behind them are the same. I liked the manifesto we ran on last year but whilst door knocking I found it hard to convey what the overall message was. That was a problem and must change. At least under Corbyn we have a clear message (see no.2). Also, Corbyn does have several new policies (e.g. People’s QE, collective bargaining, real living wage across the public sector) which are significantly more radical than anything from last year.

What’s the media strategy?

First of all, I think Jones is basically right about the limitations of social media. Most people use it as way to disengage their brain rather than the opposite. By all means use Facebook to organise internally (see no.9) and carry on with the hash tags and the up votes (I do both of those things personally). However, we do also need a coherent media strategy involving the ‘old media’. To put it bluntly, Corbyn needs media training and the party needs a new director of communications. Labour representatives need to be on the major political programmes on both TV and radio as often as possible and have a clear game plan every time they go on. Corbyn himself should write op-ed pieces in all the major newspapers explaining his views in his own words. John McDonnell should be used for the more intellectual Radio 4 type stuff whilst the likes of Richard Burgon can be used for more superficial programming.

What’s the strategy to win over the over-44s?

A combination of ‘won’t somebody think of the children’, (free education, youth employment, housing etc) which will appeal to parents and grandparents, and concrete proposals on pensioner issues. Repeat ad infinitum.

What’s the strategy to win over Scotland?

Offer either devo-max or a federal system of government for the UK. Call the SNP out on the risks of independence but also forcefully make the argument that the current set-up is unsustainable. Make Scottish Labour a fully autonomous organisation.

What’s the strategy to win over Conservative voters?

Part of the modern Conservative Party’s appeal is their supposed competence and seriousness. The simple answer to this is to point out examples of their incompetence (which are hardly few and far between) and for Labour to be more serious about how it goes about things. Also, make the argument that the middle class is increasingly threatened by economic insecurity (see no.1).

How would we deal with people’s concerns about immigration?

The immigration dividend is a good idea but needs fleshing out. We should also be prepared to talk about problems with integration when discussing regional inequalities. Free movement is a non-starter at the current time and we need a comprehensive immigration policy which offers more control. Don’t demonise immigrants but do discuss the problems which large scale immigration poses. Raise class consciousness and the importance of solidarity as an antidote to UKIP’s bigotry.

How can Labour’s mass membership be mobilised?

Reform the CLP system and have more regular and less formal meetings. This is one area where social media is important. All meetings should have a Facebook event and a hashtag. The national party should take over moderation of /r/labouruk and encourage more memebrs on reddit to subscribe.. We also need to urgently update campaigning methods. For example, an app could easily replace the person running the board during canvassinng and increase efficiency. We should also consider allowing for online meetings through Skype because at the moment not being able to find big enough halls is a serious problem. We must also engage at a local community level and I think the apparatus for this largely already exists.

AK