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Labour is back for a third term. This time around, unless it tackles redistribution on a radical scale, the legacy it leaves future generations will be worth little.

After Labour's eight years in power, the lack of social mobility in the UK is shameful. A study of eight industrialised countries by the London School of Economics put Britain at the bottom. The poor find it more difficult now than 20 years ago to break the cycle of poverty.

Expounding on the value of radical redistribution for the prosperity of all should have been a recurring theme of the first two Labour governments. Instead, we've had the slyness of stealth taxes and projects such as the national child care strategy and Sure Start only whispered about in the wings of the main political stage.

Whoever leads the country during the next few years will have to deal with the left wing of the parliamentary Labour Party, which, because of the government's smaller majority, now has bargaining clout. According to the academic Philip Cowley, Blair would not have been able to push through top-up fees (disastrous for the underprivileged) or foundation hospitals with a small majority. Already, some MPs have pledged to stop any further privatisation of public services and erosion of civil liberties.

What is also vital is that ministers belatedly initiate an open and honest dialogue with the electorate explaining why taxes must rise and why the investment in those at the bottom of society has to significantly increase if Britain is to become a socially cohesive and prosperous nation.

What's "fair" and what isn't in terms of what we pay in tax and what we receive in benefits and services is examined in a thoughtful paper by Alan Hedges, Perceptions of Redistribution, for the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion at the LSE. Hedges found strong support for the principle of mutuality. "Everyone does their bit as far as they're able - and all of us have periods when we give or take more because of lifecycle changes or random events."

Most were in favour of those at the bottom receiving "a bit more" at the expense of those at the top - but the scale of redistribution required to make significant change is not understood. Making us comprehend this will be the new government's task. The next four years is a make or break time for Britain. Will Labour, third time around, finally rise to the challenge of creating a socially just society?