THE WAY TO VICTORY

A win in Glasgow East on Thursday will cheer Labour supporters currently staring into the electoral abyss. But what is happening two days afterwards will be even more important for the future fortunes of the Party.
The National Policy Forum meeting in Warwick has far more sway now than the Party Conference in a couple of months' time . And, yes, that's appalling.
For now, let's concentrate on the sheer commonsense of the demands which trade union leaders will make at the weekend. Rumour has it that Gordon Brown will oppose many of these demands. Minister Pat McFadden has already appeared on Newsnight to quash hopes the unions' collective wisdom will be taken on board at the NPF. Why? They are all mainstream , commonsense ideas which could take the Party out of the centre-right quagmire it has fallen into - with the ensuing meltdown at the polls.
The list, outlined in the Guardian the other day, includes the right to take supportive strike action, scrapping NHS prescription charges, bringing all hospital cleaning back in-house, and a new agreement on public sector pay.
Nearly 200 constituency parties have also submitted 4,000 amendments, about half them motions submitted by activists in the LRC and the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy.They include withdrawal from Iraq, a new council house building programme, and a 50p income tax rate on those earning more than £100,000.
Other union proposals include extending the adult minimum wage to 18- to 21-year-olds and apprentices, and legal changes that would allow councils to negotiate procurement contracts that include fair employment clauses.
On education, they want staff in city academies to be paid at the same rates as other school staff, the right to five days a year paid educational leave for all workers, free school meals for all children in primary schools, and mandatory time off to retrain.
On the environment, the unions want to extend the "not-for-profit model" to passenger train operators as franchises expire, and to break up the dominance of the six major energy companies.
On union rights, they want the right to strike, internet balloting, tax deductions for union membership subscriptions, and an extension of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority to construction.
On equality, the unions propose extending a duty to promote equality to the voluntary and private sectors, reducing the lower earnings threshold to £30 a week to allow low-paid workers access to sick pay, a tightening of the equal pay laws, and a new right for unions to collectively bargain on equality issues. On parental leave, they want an extension of the child's age limit from six to 16.
What's extraordinary, of course, is that in days gone by these would all have been mainstream Labour policy. New Labour detractors are trying to say this list is some sort of hard left backtrack to the 1980's. What utter nonsense. Measures such as these are the only way we will defeat David Cameron's Tories at the next election.

AND ON IT GOES......

Reader, there was a time when even I thought Gordon Brown would be a step back from Blairite policies. How long ago that seems.
From the Press Association:
Gordon Brown has announced plans for a "new wave" of public service reforms intended to put more services in the hands of social enterprises and independent providers.
The Prime Minister - who is marking his first anniversary in No 10 - said that the Government had only just begun to harness the potential of these not-for-profit organisations.
The first step will come with the forthcoming publication of health minister Lord Darzi's Next Stage Review of the National Health Service, which is due out shortly.
Downing Street said that it will include new measures to enable front-line staff working in community health services to opt out of primary care trusts and set up their own, nurse-led organisations.
Writing in the foreword to a Cabinet Office report on public services, Mr Brown insisted that his approach did not mark a return to the days when the poor had to rely on charity for public services.
Nevertheless, the move is likely to alarm the public service unions at a time when they are already at odds with the Government over its determination to hold down public sector pay.