Former Islington Labour Candidate Wants To Test Public's "Red Lines" Of Closeness With Europe
Praful Nargund shook hands with Jeremy Corbyn after unsuccessfully contesting the Islington North seat at the general election last July (Alamy)
6 min read
Praful Nargund, a former Labour candidate and director of a new think tank, has said his new organisation will test where the UK public's “red lines” are for closer cooperation with Europe.
34-year-old Nargund campaigned as a Labour parliamentary candidate in Islington North last year but was defeated by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who won as an independent.
With Labour now in government, Nargund has turned his sights to a different political venture. His new think tank, the Good Growth Foundation (GGF), officially launched this month with the aim to campaign for policies to boost economic growth and reduce inequalities across the UK. The launch event was attended by Health Secretary Wes Streeting, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury James Murray and numerous Labour backbench MPs.
Multiple parliamentarians quickly walked through the event to scope out how influential the new organisation might be. "I just wanted to see who is here..." one MP told PoliticsHome on their way out of the crowded room in Parliament.
In an interview with PoliticsHome, Nargund said he wants the GGF's work to feed directly into government. Its next projects include conducting research into business attitudes towards growth and measuring public attitudes towards the UK’s relationship with Europe.
With US President Donald Trump threatening widespread trade tariffs and ongoing conflict in the Middle East and Ukraine, the UK government is seeking a reset in its relations with the EU. Last week, Prime Minister Keir Starmer headed to Brussels to meet with EU leaders – the first time a UK prime minister has done so since Brexit.
A YouGov poll in January suggested that every constituency in Britain believes the government should prioritise trade with the EU over the US and other countries. “So we just felt like this is politically the right thing to do”, Nargund said.
“If you get it right, you have a huge potential to transform people's lives across the country quickly. And we know SMEs in particular have disproportionately been negatively impacted by Brexit.”
Nargund described how his think tank will explore “where some of the red lines are” when it comes to public attitudes towards UK-EU relations. These “red lines” could be everything from rejoining the single market, customs union membership, a ‘one in, one out’ visa system, or a series of sectoral deals or security cooperation agreements.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Brussels last week with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (Alamy)
On the domestic front, the GGF’s first report – titled ‘Mind the Growth Gap’ – has set out why politicians should ensure economic growth is felt in the pockets of ordinary people, making it “clear, relatable, and grounded in their everyday experiences”.
As satisfaction in the government continues to dip since the election, Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves will be painfully aware that voters will want to see a tangible difference in this Parliament if they have any hope of getting re-elected to government.
In Nargund’s view, the Treasury therefore has to “face two ways”, looking to ensure long-term growth and investment while also establishing what the short-term benefits are for the public.
“You don't need to see the total transformation of the economy [in this Parliament],” Nargund said.
“But you could have these personal impacts in terms of skills, health, transport, or in their community, their high street is transformed, or they see new industries turn up in their community.”
He gave the example of housing and planning reform, arguing that policies to boost housebuilding should be prioritised in places where you “have the most chance of actually taking a chunk out of affordability as quickly as possible”.
On devolution, he said, “people don't celebrate devolution for the sake of devolution”.
“It is a means to an end to transformation in their own lives and public services, and if that's the case, you've got to make sure those devolution reforms happen as quickly as possible,” he said. “Don't over-complicate it.”
The GGF will therefore advocate for policies which spread the economic benefits of growth across the country. “We don't think things trickle down, and we actually think the public doesn't either,” Nargund said.
“The public at large thinks that growth is mainly good for the wealthy or big business and that it isn't really that good for them. Aspiration in this country is quite deeply broken.”
Much of the think tank’s work will focus on how the government can appeal to Tory-Labour swing voters with its growth policies. But its work on the EU, according to Nargund, will have to look at a “much broader coalition of voters”, including those considering switching to Reform and those ideologically to the left of the Labour Party.
There are already other prominent think tanks which aim to help Labour develop policies and win public support at the same time – Labour Together being the most obvious example. The think tank is led by former Labour shadow minister Jonathan Ashworth and has former employees who now work in government.
But Nargund insists the GGF will be different: “We don't have ‘Labour’ in the name. Yes, we're openly progressive, but we are genuinely independent.
“We have people with different political persuasions on our advisory board. We're willing to talk to people cross-party.”
Since the election, Labour Together has largely worked advising the government behind the scenes. Nargund wants the GGF to be more public-facing, but hopes his connections in the “Labour world” will help elevate their cause in government too.
The GGF has made the deliberate decision to not establish MP champions to promote its work, but did collaborate with the Labour Growth Group caucus of backbench MPs to produce its first report.
“We’re trying to stay a little bit out of it,” Nargund said.
With the GGF having hired multiple full-time staff to work on policy, public affairs and comms, Nargund is still in the process of “professionalising” the organisation.
As the director of a venture capital firm and previously the director of a family-owned IVF fertility service Nargund is funding the GGF for the next two years through his own businesses. However, he told PoliticsHome that in the long run, he expected the think tank to raise money “in the normal way” through grants and donations.
Having run unsuccessfully to be an MP last year, is Nargund already keen to try again? “I have no idea, I’m still recovering!” he joked. “I am loving being director of the Good Growth Foundation.”
Asked if he would try to get on the Labour candidate list if a suitable by-election arose in the next few years, he replied: “Never say never.”
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