Open Left, a three year Demos project, will seek to renew the thinking and ideas of the Left through open debate and new policy ideas.

To mark the launch Open Left commissioned ten leading left-wing figures to answer six key questions on why they are on the Left – published today on a new forum at www.openleft.co.uk – and calls on people to join the debate with their own contribution.

At the launch, James Purnell sets out what the aims of an open Left should be:

“Everyone has a different idea about what it means to be on the Left today. After more than a decade in government, instead of recognising what we have in common, the Left has become preoccupied by the few areas that divide us. I think now is the time to return to the big questions for the Left. What kind of equality do we care about? How do we reform the state to give people more power? How do we promote personal freedom whilst also building a better society? 

In his contribution he sets out what he believes to be the three key distinctions between those on the Left and Right of British politics today: 

"First, the Right tolerates inequalities that the Left hates. Some people have it very easy in our society, others far too hard. Second, the Left believes that government action can help individuals be more powerful, The Right thinks the opposite. Finally, I’m utopian. People on the Left have a vision of what society could be like, and try to make that a reality. People on the Right are more likely to value the status quo."

Jon Cruddas MP says:

“I was brought up to believe in the biblical command that we should love others as we love ourselves. At a more empirical level, it seems demonstrably true that more equal societies are healthier and happier.”

Peter Hyman, former political strategist to Tony Blair, says: 

“The Right doesn’t do causes. The Left in this country seems, at times, to have stopped too. A cause is better than a policy. A cause beats a White Paper. A cause builds a movement; a movement gives people power. In this pragmatic, globalised age unless it has a heart as well as a head, the Left is dead."

Alan Simpson MP says: