The Left must recover the confidence to dream big, argues Liam Evans

The Right's appetite for big visions

Remigration: how a fringe idea becomes mainstream

Evans uses "remigration" as a worked example of a political conveyor belt.

• Make the idea sayable. An initially extreme concept is rebranded with technical, bureaucratic language that reduces moral shock and makes it easier to discuss in public forums.
• Normalise it through repeated exposure. Digital ecosystems of influencers and niche groups seed the term, which then migrates onto mainstream media and into public conversation.
• Secure political sponsorship. Once a politician or party adopts the rebranded idea, it gains legitimacy and can be turned into electorally potent policy.

Where the Left is now and what to do

The column credits Andy Burnham with reviving a sense of hope in parts of the progressive coalition, citing his positive summer announcements and early government measures on cost of living as evidence that government can still make a tangible difference. But Evans emphasises that incrementalism — making life slightly less bad — is not the same as offering a bold, attractive future.

He calls for an "Apollo programme" equivalent for the Left: an explicit, ambitious project that supplies vision, policy detail and a path to mainstream acceptance. In the current technological moment — with AI and other changes potentially reshaping work, wealth and longevity — Evans argues the Left has substantive material to generate such a programme but lacks the confidence to craft and sell it.

Practical implications for progressives

Evans's prescription is procedural as much as ideological. Progressives should:

• Craft distinctive, communicable narratives for large-scale goals.
• Build coalitions of communicators, digital platforms and opinion outlets to normalise those narratives.
• Translate visions into concrete policy steps that politicians can endorse and defend.

The column ends with a call to action: the Left must relearn how to dream and then use the same three-stage pathway the Right has used to turn daring ideas into mainstream politics.