I therefore believe that the politics of the left and centre of this country are frozen in an out-of-date mould which is bad for the political and economic health of Britain and increasingly inhibiting for those who live within the mould. Can it be broken?

The Labour Party is and always has been an instinctive part of my life

I do not think you can push public expenditure significantly above 60 per cent and maintain the values of a plural society with adequate freedom of choice. We are here close to one of the frontiers of social democracy.

A social democratic party without deep roots in the working class movement would quickly fade into an unrepresentative intellectual sect

Many of the early nationalisation measures were right. They have remained part of the social fabric. I favour measures of that type.

The permissive society has been allowed to become a dirty phrase. A better phrase is the civilised society

The great disadvantage of our present electoral system is that it freezes the pattern of politics, and holds together the incompatible because everyone assumes that if a party splits it will be electorally slaughtered