Labour's management-speak is turning away voters, minister says

An influential Labour minister has attacked his party's obsession with "managerial language" and warned his colleagues to speak plain English if they want to appeal to voters.

Ian McCartney, the Pensions minister, who plays a crucial role in communicating the views of Labour activists to ministers, has called on Labour to stop using jargon. "Don't throw away a good idea by using language that nobody understands," Mr McCartney said in a newspaper interview.

He warned that using impenetrable language to communicate policies could turn off traditional Labour voters. "We should always present our policies in the context of our values. What's wrong with saying to people: 'We want you locally to own your hospital'?" he said.

His outspoken comments mirror concerns in the Government that Labour policy pronouncements can sound as if they were made by management consultants. "Tony Blair was absolutely right when he said we are best when we are bold. But we can only be bold when we indicate that this is about our values, our beliefs," he said.

"Managerial language is fine in its context but in communicating with people about your values it fails to connect."

His remarks were welcomed by campaigners for the use of simple English who have criticised ministerial jargon.

John Lister, a spokesman for the Plain English Campaign, said: "We tend to find gobbledegook doesn't respect party lines. Elected politicians should be particularly careful about their language. You would have a choice about using an insurance company which didn't use plain English, but with a politician you would have to wait until the next election. His message is clear and I hope the rest of his colleagues follow his lead."

Mr McCartney also said the Government should "work harder" to build up its relationship with the unions. He said ministers should learn from the past year's tensions with trade unionists.

"The reflection must be that we have to work harder on relationships," he said. "We've got to work harder in terms of how we put our message across."

He said he was optimistic about negotiating a settlement with the firefighters and hoped relations with the unions would improve. But the unions should be brought on board by the party. "We need... to give people a sense of ownership so it is not just owned by ministers and government but owned across the movement."

NEW LABOUR NEW JARGON

Gordon Brown described Labour's economic policy in 1994 in terms of "neo-classical endogenous growth theory". The phrase, written by his adviser Ed Balls, has baffled commentators ever since. Mr Brown also referred to "the symbiotic relationships between growth and investment in people and infrastructure" to explain how the more you invest the more the economy grows.

Tony Blair described how new foundation hospitals would be able to raise funds from the private sector. "If they increase the amount of work they are doing in the private sector they will have to increase pro rata their public sector. But the great thing the foundation hospitals will have is the freedom from central control, and flexibility, but it is on the basis of earned autonomy, it is on the basis that you don't give that freedom unless there is a strong performance base."

Hilary Armstrong, while minister for Local Government and the Regions, described how local strategic partnerships (LSPs) will work. "As cross-sector, cross-agency umbrella partnerships, LSPs offer real opportunities to streamline existing partnership arrangements and to make them more effective, by making better connections between individual initiatives."

Estelle Morris, when Education Secretary, described how education can affect people's opportunities and health, particularly those from poor backgrounds. "When we know what we know about that link between educational attainment and health and unemployment, and life chances, that is why we know that the socially inclusive society, the society that is central to all we both want, is hugely dependent upon getting education and skills right. "