Britain faces a stark choice, a competent, compassionate Labour government committed to an economy that works for all, or a bumbling, arrogant Conservative government that serves only the rich few. But we cannot achieve a Labour government unless we vote for a Labour government.
Although Prime Minister, Theresa May continually harps on about Strength and stability, her government lurches from one self-inflicted crisis to another.
The Conservatives led the UK into a referendum on leaving the UK, but had no plans drawn up for how to deal with a leave vote. Any business which didn’t have contingency plans for such a momentous change would be regarded as incompetently managed, yet the Tory government had done no forward planning.
Labour respects the referendum result, but we will fight to ensure that the terms of Brexit are the best possible for the citizens of the UK, not ones that only suit millionaire fat cats in the City of London. In particular, Labour will ensure that your rights at work do not suffer when European law is repealed.
Education is in crisis under the Conservatives, and a Labour government is seen as essential by teaching professionals, as we saw with the recent standing ovations given to Jeremy Corbyn by a head teachers conference.
The NHS is straining under the Conservatives, with some nurses forced to resort to foodbanks. It is harder and harder to get a GP appointment, and waiting lists are growing.
The record of the Conservatives in government has been the pursuit of narrow self interest by the rich for the rich, combined with blundering incompetence and short sightedness.
In contrast, we should be very proud of what was achieved by the Labour government between 1997 and 2010. By 2010, there were 41000 more teachers and 120000 more teaching assistants, 80000 more nurses and 44000 more doctors, and 4.5 million families received tax credits of an average £65 per week.
There was meaningful devolution to Scotland and Wales, the abolition of Clause 28, the introduction of civil partnerships, Sure Start, paternity rights, improved maternity rights, a right to Trade Union representation at work, a statutory route to union recognition, the minimum wage, expansion of the NHS, the school building programme, a vast increase of NHS and school staff, the working time directive, working tax credits, family credits, and more.
Not to mention an end to the war in Ireland, and the start of a meaningful peace process.
The Labour Party stands for a fairer and better Britain, a Britain that is on your side in hard times.
Andy,
Well done, its fair attempt at the impossible but the facts and the principal characters just don’t stack up.
“Britain faces a stark choice”, that much is true, but that is the extent of where we agree. (between) “a competent, compassionate Labour government committed to an economy that works for all”, competent? Labour cant run their own party never mind the country. “or a bumbling, arrogant Conservative government that serves only the rich few.” Arrogant, no argument there. “But we cannot achieve a Labour government unless we vote for a Labour government”. And I cant argue with that.
Think about the choice ordinary people have, people that don’t follow politics like us. Corbyn as PM, McDonnell as chancellor with a commitment to borrow another 500B and Abbott as Home secretary.
Andy, honestly are you seriously telling people to vote labour?
Well if Corbyn and Co are elected and it all goes ****-up, you can always blame the US. Well, that’s what they do in Latin America.
The debt bombshell continuously promoted by the Tories is a complete myth. What Corbyn is essentially talking about is borrowing to invest. I.E the money is spent producing things, like what the Labour Government did in 1945. The reason why the Tories continously make such an issue about it is essentially ‘smoke and mirrors’ to distract from the fact that their rich tax dodging friends who fund their party to the hilt don’t want to pay their fair share like everyone else. http://www.ukpublicspending.co.uk/spending_chart_1945_2010UKp_09c1li001mcn_G0t_UK_National_Debt_As_Pct_GDP
http://www.britishpoliticalspeech.org/speech-archive.htm?speech=174
“We used to think that you could spend your way out of a recession, and increase employment by cutting taxes and boosting Government spending. I tell you in all candour that that option no longer exists, and that in so far as it ever did exist, it only worked on each occasion since the war by injecting a bigger dose of inflation into the economy, followed by a higher level of unemployment as the next step. Higher inflation followed by higher unemployment. We have just escaped from the highest rate of inflation this country has known; we have not yet escaped from the consequences: high unemployment.”
Wise words, well said back in 1976 by a Labour Prime Minister. After 30 years of taxing and spending, by both parties, inflation was 16% and unemployment was over 1.5 million.
So bang goes the idea that you can spend your way out of austerity.
They were not wise words, they marked Labour’s acceptance of neoliberalism and the ridiculous doctrine of monetarism which did so much damage to our economy under Thatcher. Inflation was not caused by Keynesianism, it was caused by the oil price increases of 1974 and the USA effectively printing money to pay for the war in Vietnam.
I’ll play ball and except what you say is true.
Now you need to tell me what a Labour government can do about oil price rises and American war spending.
Lewis,
‘Borrowing to invest’, please, don’t insult me.
Borrowing money to be paid back by future generations is wrong full stop. Why should our children and their children have to pay off our debts. What about their hospitals and schools? How do they pay for them if first of all they have to repay our borrowings.
What McDonnell and you advocate is immoral.
Nonsense.Higher living standards overall can only be achieved through investment.
Yet if you increase government borrowing the interest rate goes up, therefore making it less attractive to borrow and invest.
Investment does not mean borrowing. Investment is fine as long as you have accumulated savings to invest.
Borrowing money you have no intention of paying back and knowing it will be the responsibility of future generations to pay it off is wrong. You know this stop the denial.
Ask yourself this, if you got hold of a credit card belonging to one of you children, would you think it is ok to book and cruise or buy a car with it?
Are these the rich tax dodgers that were worshipped at the altar of New Labour?!
There is very little difference between New Labour and the Tories and on balance the Tories appear to be to the soft left of New Labour particularly on militarisation and foreign crusades of sovereign countries
What I’d like to know is, every Labour government always leaves office with unemployment higher than when they entered office. If elected what will they do differently, so that this does not happen?
Steven,
Dont fret. Labour are never going to form the next government. Check the odds. Bookies are seldom wrong. There is as much chance of a monkey walking across my keybord and typing a Shakespearean sonnet as there is JC being next PM.
You mean except for when the the bookies got it horribly wrong and gave odds of 200:1 for him to become party leader in the first place. If I were you I wouldn’t be so cocky about the result on 8th June either.
https://skwawkbox.org/2017/04/24/itv-poll-68-of-165000-people-vote-corbyn4pm/
Lewis,
I dont suppose you fancy a wee side bet?
Could this Tory winter be made glorious summer by our own Labour sun?
For Corbyn be as true and just
As May is false and treacherous
Austerity was never meant for the rich and powerful.
The first thing the Tories did in 2010 (with the Lib Dimwits) was to introduce tax cuts for: corporations, millionaires, private landlords and later hedge funds (£145m) after giving the Tories £50m!
“Don’t worry about this austerity stuff – IT WON’T EFFECT YOU!”
And they even increased tax relief for grouse moor owners who subsequently drained more of the land with floodwaters seeping on to towns below (Mombiet 2016).
And of course the Tories (with the Lib Dimwits) then disguised class politics by changing local government settlement rules from being based on population size and NEED to just being based on population size so billions of cuts for Labour Northern Councils, Midland Councils (and Scotland, Wales and the West of England – Lib Dimwits wake up here “you were shafted”) whilst of course Tory Southern Councils faced few if any cuts.
Then the Tory elite (trained to be callous to the poor and working class for their class whilst subsidised by the taxpayer at Public Schools and Private Schools) obviously Hayek didn’t feel that upper class welfare was “tyranny” and perhaps we should remove tax subsidies to make the rich and powerful stand on their own two feet!
And close tax havens, stop tax dodging and make corporations pay their fare share – they are happy that we consume their products but perish the thought that the rich and corporations give back and pay their fair share for the NHS, Adult Social Care, Child Poverty, for Mental Health etc.
But also note it is the labour of the working billions which really creates the wealth and makes societies work and every night the rich and powerful elite need to pray that we will turn up for work tomorrow – THEIRS IS THE REAL DEPENDENCY CULTURE!
So to the election – just destroyed May on social media – in oldest political trick in World like ‘Bloody Queen Bodeceia’ – pretending EC an ‘Evil Empire’ to blame AND DIVERT ATTENTION FROM THE NHS, HOUSING, EDUCATION, ADULT SOCIAL CARE, WHICH THEY HAVE MESSED UP & THE ECONOMY (quantitative easing is only giving the Tories time because they haven’t a clue what to do) as they attempt to CONTINUE TO CON THE WORKING CLASS/WORKING PEOPLE.
Can we win -we are up against the Tory media but have made a storming start but will our clicktivisits turn up – we are the underdogs – but the Tories are WORRIED hence desperate attempts to manage the news to focus on Brexit but Tories are A ONE TRICK PONY and some of us are just warming up!
LABOUR FOR HOPE v CONS FOR MONEY!
KEEP HOPE ALIVE! SOLIDARITY!
Why you are allowed to post articles here is as much a mystery as why Corbyn allows Abbott on TV. You have made the transition from the SWP and Respect to Labour and are the typical of the reason why Labour is increasingly unelectable.
Your blog, the laughably titled Socialist Unity, is a record of why Labour is, in its present form, finished as a governing party. More concerned with the Palestinians, Venezuela, Trotsky and a whole host of similar issues you have lost any relevance for the working class which you seem to despise anyway.
Fake IKs is rattled.
And SJ and RM the same.
As my working class mum used to say:
“It’s the rich that that gets the pleasure.
And the poor that get the blame.
Ain’t it a bleeding shame!
Many of us are the first of our working class families to go to university and we are no longer prepared to accept crumbs, we want the table for working class people here and everywhere.
To the socialists on here (and reading) solidarity and keep fighting to win!
Or as you hard left papers say, one year into a Labour government
“We never asked for this!”
Yes you did!
Maybe he just wants a job as one of those 10 000 policemen, that will be created if Labour get into power?
It would be great if in the run up to the election we could have informative and reflective pieces which help to strengthen Labour’s arguments and therefore the case for a Labour government. I don’t see the point of reproducing this sort of low-level electioneering pap.
The account of the achievements of the Blair/Brown governments is also hard to match with the markedly less positive view on Andy Newman’s blog.
Just to clarify the “borrowing” argument all Tories and the media – are they the same? – use – who borrows more?
I found this article interesting – it should be highlighted by Labour in this election campaign.
http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2016/03/13/the-conservatives-have-been-the-biggest-borrowers-over-the-last-70-years/
Now all we need is a link that shows austerity is not the fault of the conservatives. Or another political party ergo you cannot vote your way in or out of austerity.
Looks like his critics were correct, supporters of Jeremy Corbyn were delusional. All this talk of revitalising the party and re-balancing the democratic deficit was nonsense.
The voters didn’t want him but the activists did.
Momentum have run out of steam and the Labour party is heading for disaster in the general election.
As for this talk of Tory bias in the media skewing the results. I was born in Scotland and the Tory press could not help the Tories getting wiped out under Thatcher.
The 2015 election result when a moderate left leader was defeated by the Tories should not have been taken as evidence that what the voters wanted was a left-wing leader. How could it be? Unless you believe that voters punished Labour, for not being left enough, by voting Tory and UKIP.
It is the Islington elite, the hard-left, that are out of touch with the voters, not the Blairites.
The Islington elite that you mention may be represented in the majority of Labour members and supporters that voted for Corbyn, but they’re hardly the only people who voted for him, and as such cannot be said to be out of touch with the voters. The results of the local elections aren’t great, but they’re much better than could be expected after the mess the PLP have made of things.