Nicky Morgan is Labour's missing jigsaw

Nicky Morgan (Image: Daily Telegraph)

The Labour Party are on the verge of losing their status as the official opposition in Westminster. Well, that's if you believe in the press in recent weeks. It is true to say the party have endured another extremely tough year. From the attempted career assassination of their current leader, Jeremy Corbyn to being part of the losing campaign in that tiresome EU referendum. It's just been a year of failure. I don't think any of their MPs would look back at 2016 with great fondness.

However, all isn't doom and gloom. The polls may not be on their side at the minute, and their recent by-election performances leaves a lot to be desired. But they still have time until the next general election - whenever that is - to turn things right. At the moment though, they are prone to defeat. Most of their MPs wanted Corbyn to resign, he didn't. They wanted to oust him through a pointless election, they failed. Most of them campaigned for UK to 'remain' in the European Union, they lost.

These three defeats may look disastrous on paper, and you're right to come to that conclusion. I am, however, an optimist - or is it just for the purpose of this post, I'll let you decide. Labour can turn everything around to their favour in 2017. And yes, that does include Jeremy Corbyn remaining leader of the party by the end of that calendar year. All that's needed, from all of Labour, is compromise and total transparency. This compromise doesn't have to be dramatic, but even just a little will get them back to being a credible party and halt a Liberal Democrat insurgence, something we've seen in recent months.

The primary compromise must come from Jeremy Corbyn. I've mentioned in my previous posts that he should embrace the power of communication and unite his party. I may be the only 'Moderate Centrist' (the website Crowdpac's words, not mine) to see that he has genuinely tried to get on their side - yet even after 15 months being leader, he hasn't executed this well enough to ensure his sceptical peers are on his side. He needs to show this physically and verbally, and be backed up by other 'moderates' - people like John Prescott who has written brilliantly about this in his Sunday Mirror columns.

Corbyn during EU referendum campaign (Image: Yahoo)

One way of achieving this mission is for Corbyn to show ambition and drop his stubborn pride and join cross-party alliances. If this year has taught us anything it'd be that they actually can work. As a passionate Remainer (or 'Remoaner' as you may call me by the end of this piece), one must admit that Labour's Gisela Stuart did well to adjust to Conservative-heavy Vote Leave campaign and her words resonated with many disenchanted voters. Likewise, for Remain, Tory's Ruth Davidson worked tremendously well with Labour's Sadiq Khan and shared platforms with Unionists that really went down a hoot in Scotland and London.

For me, Corbyn needs to go down that route and utilise it as an effective tactic to get sceptics behind him - and by that I mean Labour MPs and beyond. One person who I think he, and Labour, could really work with to great effect, is Tory MP for Loughborough, Nicky Morgan. The former Education Secretary under David Cameron's premiership has been a key member of the Remain team in recent weeks.

Morgan has been in the news a lot lately, hugely vocal for the Remain camp. And you can tell she's not happy under the leadership of Theresa May, and that the Prime Minister isn't happy with Morgan. It could be because she's bitter about being reportedly sacked as Education Secretary during the summer by May. But in recent weeks she's been interviewed by The Times saying she's going to be a crusade for those who want to Remain in the European Union, going completely against the government's current agenda.

This May v Morgan spat has escalated even further last week when an aide of the Prime Minister texted Morgan to say she was no longer welcome at Downing Street. This was after Morgan publicly criticised May's £995 leather trousers. It's crazy - it's like banning a Tesco Clubcard holder from entering any Tesco branch because the customer took to social media for not being happy with their service that one time. It's bonkers to ban a government backbencher politician from a government building.

Morgan with Theresa May (Image: Flickr)

So this is where Labour comes in. If they truly believe they have what it takes to campaign for the best deal for Britain once the country begins exit negotiations with the EU, they need support from those who believe in their vision. Yes, Nicky Morgan is a Conservative, and may always be. And yes, she has voted for things that any Labour MP never would. However, both she and Labour have things in common. Firstly, she wasn't a bad Education Secretary - what I mean by that is that she did a hell-lot better than Michael Gove, and therefore wasn't condemned by Labour that frequently. And both aren't fans of the current Prime Minister. So why not form a relationship?

The Tories are in a bad place at the moment. Two of their Leave-supporting MPs resigned this autumn and as a result, their majority has been reduced after Liberal Democrats took Richmond Park off Zac Goldsmith. In addition, May is showing the same level of stubbornness than Margaret Thatcher did in the 1980s. Her decision making isn't popular, and her premiership will be remembered for the way Britian leaves the European Union, and how the country reacts financially and socially as a result.

We must appreciate that global politics is changing in the way that Parties are becoming irrelevant when it comes to individual policies. Labour should welcome Nicky Morgan with open arms. She was willing to thankfully compromise on her academisation of UK schools vision and also changed her mind about gay marriage for the better. Corbyn could come out of his social bubble and at least talk to her. His Party needs uniting and Morgan wants her voice heard without government shutting her down. Both are on the same page and can resonate with both sides of the political spectrum so for me, that's the best combination moving forward without adding to the hatred we've witnessed this year.

Why do I hope for this particular alliance? To put it bluntly, I am dumbstruck about the way the government is putting the public towards a cliff's edge with this calamitous EU exit. I do agree they shouldn't give us a 'running commentary' as Labour seem to want. However, with it being near six whole months since that referendum, I wonder why it's taking so long to trigger Article 50 and why no actual strategy has been set. We can have answers without a running commentary required. But apart from vague deadlines, we have no idea what their strategy is. If they state this clearly once, the public don't need any more.

A clear strategy is what Morgan and Labour want. It can even be done in private. If there was and such parties are satisfied then neither will be seen as pestering, or 'moaning'. My biggest issue is that May is downplaying the significance of this exit. She's stooping to the original Eurosceptics levels by dismissing Brussels as this pointless organisation. It isn't. With EU funding set to disappear from communities up-and-down the country, what is the government's answer? To increase council tax, as May announced this week. She can say it's to solve the care sector crisis all she wants, but I truly believe it's related to the EU exit. Council tax hike to cover EU funding loss is perfectly plausible, but completely flawed. If Morgan doesn't want most Brits to go out of pocket, then I suggest she pushes her EU agenda with Labour, and quick.