Labour Party Conference 2025: Five Key Themes
By Hannah Anderton
Spending time at Labour Party Conference brought the chance to connect with so many brilliant people and an opportunity to hear perspectives from MPs, activists, community leaders, and policy thinkers. Across the back-to-back schedule of events, panels, speeches, and conversations I joined, I pulled out five key themes that capture Labour’s current positioning and signal the party’s priorities and challenges as it looks ahead to both the near future and the next election.
1. Hope vs. Despair: Labour’s framing against Reform
Labour is positioning itself as the party of hope and opportunity in contrast to Reform’s narrative of grievance and decline. This framing is increasingly evident from Keir's speech, where he delivered a bolder condemnation of racist and divisive politics than we have seen before - an obvious contrast to the ‘island of strangers’ we saw an apology for earlier this year. He asserted that those who support recent Reform rhetoric on deportations are the “enemies of national renewal.”
Across conference, emphasis on opportunity, particularly in reference to the net zero transition as an opportunity for 400k jobs for British workers, stands at odds with Reform (and now the Tories?) plans to tear the sector down. Use of the snappy tagline of ‘decency vs division’ was a standout feature, which perfectly captures their positioning on potential outcomes at the next election. Dr Parth Patel IPPR captured this sentiment well while speaking at a panel on Masculinity and the New Politics of Discontent: ‘Reform will make despair convincing and Labour need to make hope possible’.
2. Renewing Britain Place-by-Place
A recurring mention of a strategy to address communities “place by place” was issued, particularly in relation to coastal, rural, and working-class areas facing economic challenges. The focus was on localised investment, practical skills training, and technical education pathways. This signals Labour’s vision for inclusive prosperity and intent to build a credible, place-based economic and social offer for communities historically neglected in national policymaking.
3. A collaborative model for national change
Several speeches marked a clear reinstatement of Labour as a principles-led party with foundational values: community cohesion, social justice, and opposition to bigotry. We saw an amplification and celebration of local community champions, with Starmer referencing “community heroes” as exemplars of British values and “champions of national renewal.” The vision presented was one of shared responsibility between the state and civil society actors, a collaborative model for national change and a willingness for the Government to work with and learn from trusted community actors.
4. Domestic Priorities Trump Global Affairs
Overwhelmingly the focus of MPs at conference was on domestic issues. While Keir’s speech briefly recognised the party’s support for a Palestinian state and the UK was positioned as an emerging global hub for tech and AI, there was no significant attention to foreign policy. Throughout a number of events the cost of living threaded through various topics and many MPs agreed better outcomes for working people will be the priority for securing Labour a stronger position in opinion polls.
5. The focus of the next three years: delivering tangible change
Despite opinion polls, many Labour politicians pushed the theme that there is time yet to get ahead of the curve. To do so, there would have to be a shift from strategy to delivery mode, and a number of contributions highlighted that the party feels they still have enough time to deliver tangible change. The party knows they have to offer a material difference, especially as for the first time young people are expected to be worse off than their parents while NEET (not in education, employment or training) young people have reached record levels. Party members are hopeful that the upcoming budget will focus on regional economic renewal and see the start of more young people being lifted out of poverty.
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