
Neil Kinnock addresses the audience at the John Fitzmaurice memorial evening, hosted by Brussels Labour
Lord Kinnock tells Brussels Labour, even in the face of unprecedented challenges, we cannot give up hope, “That is the very last thing we should do!”
Lord Neil Kinnock delivered the 2024 John Fitzmaurice Memorial Lecture in December at The Full Circle private members’ club. As former Labour leader, ex-European Commission Vice President, and honorary president of Brussels Labour, his presence was both a privilege and a highlight—especially after speaking at a Labour Movement for Europe (LME) breakfast earlier that day. Attendees were eager to hear his perspective.
Labour’s resounding victory in the July general election under Sir Keir Starmer had set the stage for a daunting challenge. Domestically and internationally, the new government faces crises; the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, political instability in France and Germany, and Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Against this backdrop, Kinnock’s words carried weight.
“There has never been a time which has favoured us,” he reminded the audience. “We have always been agitators of change.” He reflected on Labour’s history, from its 1923 minority government, which introduced council housing that “utterly” transformed lives—including his own—to the post-war government’s radical overhaul of Britain. Labour’s 1945 victory brought “huge change,” where people accepted rationing and national service as necessary trade-offs. Even Churchill’s return in 1951 didn’t roll back Labour’s major achievements: the welfare state, decent pensions, free medicine for children, and the National Health Service, all of which endure.
After 14 years of Conservative rule, Kinnock noted, Labour’s legacy has been “battered, spoiled, and robbed” through underfunding—but it has survived. He highlighted Labour governments of the 1960s and 1970s, which introduced regional investment policies, and the 1974 minority government that rescued Britain from economic decline. “We even managed to stay in the European Community by a great act of compromise,” he said. From 1997 to 2010, Labour invested heavily in health, education, and poverty reduction.

Why the history lesson? “It is to remind everybody that in every single one of those situations, our inheritance was bloody terrible,” Kinnock said. The UK was left in economic ruin, plagued by underinvestment.
He took aim at British capitalism, calling it “indolent” and risk-averse. “It will talk a good game in risk-taking and then avoid risk-taking unless it’s pensioned by the state,” he said. Since Victorian times, capitalism had favoured employers at the expense of workers. “Now, I’m not preaching class hatred,” he clarified. “I’m just giving you the facts.” Labour has always had to fight against a 200-year Conservative advantage, often facing a divided opposition.
On geopolitics, Kinnock painted a grim picture. “Not since the 1950s have we had to face such terror as we do now,” he said. “The absence of forceful, effective, enlightened, progressive leadership is deeply, deeply concerning.” He warned of “seriously evil men” wielding influence and terror comparable to the Nazis and Soviet communists.
Still, he saw a path forward. “If we learn the lessons of the past, we can overcome them by cooperation and coordination,” he said. “But it requires our country to dispense with delusions.”
The biggest delusion? That national sovereignty alone can solve modern challenges. “It hasn’t existed since 1945,” Kinnock argued. “Interdependence is the reality of the modern world.” Advances in transport, communication, and technology have made isolationist policies untenable. Those clinging to protectionism, he warned, are “living in a dream world. Reality will catch up with them—and bite them on their backside, hopefully painfully.”
But Labour’s path forward will be long. “We can only undertake this advance if we remain true to what we believe,” he stressed. That means acknowledging current realities, recognising Britain’s potential, and committing to meaningful change. Key to this? Communication. “We must relate to the daily realities of people’s lives, their aspirations, and their hopes,” he said. Only then can Labour secure the longevity in power needed for lasting change.
With Trump back in the White House, fears of economic disruption loomed. Kinnock linked Trump to instability, along with figures like Elon Musk. “No right-thinking, decent person wants to invest in instability,” he said. But he asked: “Stability for whom, and by what means?”
For Labour, stability must mean mobilising investment—both domestic and foreign. “It has to mean, in my view, re-joining the single market,” he said bluntly.

Despite the challenges, Kinnock remained resolute. “We could say it’s all bloody hopeless, miserable, and appalling—that we might as well give up,” he said. “But I just can’t do that. You can’t do that. We can’t afford to do that!”
Kinnock along with Brussels Labour look forward to the resetting of the UK’s relations with the EU, as reflected in the party manifesto which “has a strong sentiment of seeking a new relationship with the European Union.”
Kinnock to illustrate the strength of feeling for a resetting of relations quoted William Shakespeare’s Julia Caesar, “There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to glory.” And I think the tide has changed. It isn’t fully in, but it has shifted. And if we catch it as it floods, I think that we can make a big difference to our standing and attitude on Europe.”
Kinnock believed there will hopefully be progress in the spring on a range of issues including agricultural arrangements, recognition of qualifications, security and defence. Also, visas for certain kinds of businesses or cultural activities, school children, enhancement of arrangements under the EU’s horizon research scheme, along with several other areas. “They would be discrete, sectoral small steps individually, but collectively a major stride back to European normality.”
But he stressed trust and understanding must be rebuilt, be part of a deliberate and gradual process of preparation leading to negotiation and hopefully agreement.
According to Kinnock, fortunately a new relationship has already began. Hewarned, however, that “It’s not going to compensate for the economic losses sustained in the years since 2016, particularly in the years since 2021, which were massive.”
He also pointed to the negative impact in the reduction of the availability of skilled labour, which had inflicted damage in several significant sectors, including construction, hospitality and advanced academic research of various kinds, which has not been properly taken into account in any economic calculations.
For Kinnock it was clear, “That without re-entering (the single market) or without being part of the Customs Union, the possibility of getting substantial, even respectable, economic growth, let alone being the leading country in the G7 is an utter fantasy.”
Despite all the challenges and politically negative situations that lay ahead, Kinnock called on Brussels Labour to: “Battle on, but battle on with greater hope and resolution!”
Written by Raj Singh