There is a bit of a debate going on on the Hebweb about Labour's future. The following is a shorter version of my post on what Labour should do to recover lost ground.
New Labour was the result of many years of Tory Government and sheer desperation that Labour would never win office again. So many (myself included) were prepared to conpromise. In Tony Blair we (rightly) assumed we had an electable Leader who could win over a broad coalition of support. That broad coalition has now fallen apart and in its desire to keep Middle England sweet, Labour has lost much of its core support. Most siginificantly that of the working-class .
No-one disputes the achievements of the 1997 Govt. Surestart, Minimum Wage, Northern Irealnd, devolution. But in 2003 Tony Blair took us into an illegal and immoral war in Iraq which for many was the tipping-point out of the Labour Party. We have yet to recover from that.
When Gordon Brown became Leader many also hoped for a change in direction but it has not happened. Far from it. New Labour continues on its road of unnecessary and unpopular privatisations, ie Royal Mail, presides over a society in which the gap between rich and poor has widened, not lessened, and we have a tax system which remains beneficial to the rich. Well-off people actually paid more tax under Thatcher.
In 1997, we said we would re-nationalise the railways and not introduce tuition fees. We reneged on the promise re the railways and did what we said we would not do on top-up fees.We continue to allow the rich to get away with billions in tax avoidance.
Tax credits have helped many people but welfare benefits are derisory. According to the TUC, Jobseekers Allowance should be about £100 a week just to keep pace with inflation. It is about £60.00.
Yet we have committed billions to a new generation of nuclear weapons. At a time when four million people are on waiting-lists for council homes.
So it's not enough to say the Tories would be worse. The fact is many simply don't believe that. What to do? New Labour's status quo is not an option.
Labour backbenchers and trade unionists need to put pressure on the Government to put into place the policies which would win back support. Old state nationalisation might not be the answer but there are many models of social enterprise and alternatives to the iniquities of global capitalism - currently in meltdown.
We need to call for:
A fairer tax system
Millions more investment in social housing
More accountability for the banks we have bailed out.
Scrapping ID cards and Trident
The return of the private utilities into public ownership (doesn't have to be a State monolith) to end the profiteering which is leading many millions into fuel poverty.
The Socialist Labour Party and No2EU are not to blame for the BNP winning. Their vote was frankly, derisory.It says far more that Labour's vote collapsed and we got a BNP Euro MP. If people in the Labour Government are not prepared to listen to that message, then we really are doomed to have a Tory Government.
Thursday, 11 June 2009
WHICH WAY FORWARD?
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5 comments:
First point, yes, the SLP and No2EU aren't directly to blame for the BNP advance. But, the cynicism exemplified by the ultra-left adventurists around no2EU has led to a situation where people who may otherwise have voted Labour have stayed at home, and that low turnout has led to BNP representation, first in London and now in the EU.
Secondly, the position taken by the RMT has (perhaps fatally) compromised activities around the People's Charter. The RMT position around no2EU has allowed the enemies of the Charter to portray it as an anti-Labour Party initiative. There are no significant number of people interested in a "new workers party". Hence, as we have seen at the Scottish and Welsh TUC, the People's Charter has been voted down, even though it actually embodies union policy in many areas.
And it has to be said, the continuing position of the RMT is putting the LRC in a very bad position. I'm certainly not interested in a "new workers party" - I want Labour to get back to its roots. It's not clear that the RMT shares that view.
I think the majority of those outline policies would be agreed by most mainstream Labour people
The only one I am not sure about, purely in terms of financial possibility, is the return of private utilities into public ownership. I agree with it, but I am not sure if it is affordable given the compensation which would have to be paid, legally. So it may be a case of much tougher regulation including all profit to be compulsorily ploughed back into the utility (in other words turning them into non-profit-making companies)
Unfortunately its not going to happen this side of a General Election
You're such a sweet, old-fashioned girl, Susan, and I love it when you talk about "the working class", it takes me right back to that old Hovis ad with the brass band playing gently in the background.
I do hope very much that the, er, new Old Labour party follows your plan to concentrate on the 'working class' because it will keep you all fruitlessly busy and out of power for years. Why? Because, of course, the 'working class', in your terms, doesn't exist anymore. Thanks to 'that woman' we're all middle-class now except for a tiny minority of upper-class and a growing swathe of under-class and one of the problems with them from a politicians point of view is that they don't vote.
Even worse, new Old Labour's pursuit and molly-coddling of this under-class (which contributes nothing but takes everything) is precisely the reason that the new middle-class who are taxed to the hilt (and it's going to get worse very shortly) loathe and despise your party and vote for the mouth-breathers of the BNP.
So good luck: 'Into the valley of death they charged', or perhaps 'Carry on up the Khyber'!
David Duff
Yesterday the Welfare committee decided to go full steam ahead with getting the sick and the disabled placed on to JSA. it was decided it did not matter if a recession was hurting, people should be paid a lower benefit.
I'm glad really it now removes any doubts what so ever that New Labour is a party on it's way out and may it rest in peace.
People who didn't, now accept the need for regulation in the market and the untrammeled free market...a legacy of 'that woman'is yesterdays consensus dear boy.Never give up on the smug fogy bit do we.....the working class patronised as something out of a hovis advert. I was watching a programme on stats last night and the average Briton has size 10 feet for men,drives a Ford Fiesta and wait for it, wait for it considers themselves working class. No surprise it comes up in every social attitude survey. And Mr. Average came from Swindon.Would also mention that ordinary middle class people have plenty to be worried about by a Tory Government.
Dave Draycott
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