Just because he exchanges a few tweets with Labour’s leader, does that make him a friend of Labour? There was a time, when he did sound like a voice of reason to the Left of New Labour. He raised concerns about the level of private debt long before the credit crunch and he was the first to call for the nationalisation of Northern Rock, but having backed a fiscal stimulus as the right response to the international crisis in February 2009, his U-turn once in government was the most treacherous of all the Lib-Dem damascene conversions to neo-liberalism. And now he is engaged in the ugliest of attacks on labour of all, at a time of falling real incomes, deprivation and rising unemployment, he wants to make it easier to sack workers.
Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB, was right to say:
This is unlikely to create jobs as the overwhelming majority of employers do not think about the rights of employees when making decisions about employing more staff. Such decisions are influenced by factors like their confidence about future demand for their goods or services…. it will have a dampening effect on consumer demand which will in turn further weaken the confidence of businesses who consequently will not take on workers.”
Dave Prentis, general secretary of UNISON, added:
These ‘Beecroft lite’ proposals are still a blatant attack on workers’ rights. The UK already has some of the weakest labour laws in Europe. Weighing the scales heavily in favour of bosses – who can hire and fire at will – will only fuel insecurity, lengthening the dole queues and making the UK’s damaging recession worse.
Even Chuka Umunna criticised it:
Vince Cable’s employment law proposals today water down the rights at work of every employee in the UK
So lets hope that we do not see a repeat of the cosying up to Cable that we recently saw from Ed Balls. Vince Cable is just another Lib-Dem turncoat who does not deserve another chance fro the electorate.
Ed doesn’t seem to appreciate that the LibDems demise in the polls is because of a genuine and deep-seated contempt for a party that promised and reneged on everything it stood for whilst at the same time enabling a rampant Tory government.
If he doesn’t see sense, Labour will suffer in the polls because Labour will be tarnished with that association.
‘Squeeze a liberal and they turn blue’ we used to say in the 70s and 80s.
Cable deserves all the criticism.
But…will Ed ‘friend of the left’ Miliband go into the next election with a crystal clear commitment to reversing Cable’s attacks?
Yes? What if he doesn’t? Will the Labour left have the balls to criticise him? Or will they flunk it and blame Progress and the Blairites instead – anything to preserve the fiction that Ed is one of them?
Having followed the twists and turns of the Labour left for over 30 years, I think that Ed will fudge the issue and the left will, as ever, offer some token criticism and then do bugger all.
Look at Cable’s personal political trajectory and his treachery is clear to see. He’d fit comfortably into the Tory party now. That’s the next logical move for him. Watch out Cameron. The headed notepaper wouldn’t require too much alteration.
The Labour Party is made up of members, the Labour Party seems to be missing something that is the link with it’s own members.
Join the LRC and the Co-op Party to see how its done.
Why do I push Left Foot and get a Liberal?