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Labour must not retreat into its "comfort zone" and ignore issues like crime and immigration if it wants to stay in power, Hazel Blears will say tonight.
The communities secretary will argue that Labour won in 1997 because it was able to assemble a coalition from "across the social spectrum" and activists should not forget this.
"If you want increases in the national minimum wage and investment in the NHS, then we have to persuade people in Hastings, Basildon, Harlow and Luton that we are firm but fair on immigration, that we understand their aspirations about the housing market and the economy, that we share their ambitions for their children to go to university and get on in life," she will say.
At a debate on Labour's future organised by Progress and Compass, the pressure groups, she will argue that the party's success depends on "appealing to the many, not the few, being the party of the affluent as well as the poorest families".
And she will criticise those who think the party would benefit by shifting to the left.
"If we retreat into our comfort zone, and duck the tough issues such as crime and immigration, our coalition will fracture.
"I don't want the politics of retrenchment and retreat, of saying what sounds good at the general committee meeting, of pandering to the Guardian."
Blears will also argue that the party will not win the next election simply by talking about its achievements.
"People expect and deserve the best from their public services; they don't say thanks when things improve.
"That's why [Gordon Brown] is right to talk about the need for persistent public-service reforms, driving standards up ever higher, always rising to meet public demands."
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