As the election comes into sight, what should be the ten pledges that Labour should make to maximize its vote for 7 May 2015? Here are some proposals which should certainly be included:
1. End austerity because the policy of endless spending cuts is clearly not working – deficit reduction (the ostensible purpose of the whole exercise) has ground to a halt and the deficit may even rise this year. Adopt the obvious alternative policy, which would cut the deficit far more quickly, by expanding the economy, creating hundreds of thousands of real jobs, raising household incomes, and using the higher tax take to pay down the deficit faster.
2. Make the revival of British manufacturing industry the key objective of domestic economic policy as the only way to pay our way in the world and reverse the disastrous slide to the biggest balance of payments deficits in British history.
3. Make full employment equally a central objective of economic policy when there are still today 2 million persons jobless and up to a further 5 million in short-term insecure jobs often dependent on zero hours contracts.
4. Make a Living Wage of £9.35 per hour in London and £7.85 in the rest of the country a mandatory requirement, to introduced within 6 months of coming into office.
5. End the scandal whereby there are now more working households in poverty (i.e. with incomes below 60% of the median wage) than workless households by restoring in-work benefits like tax credits and council tax allowances and abolishing unjust tax impositions like the bedroom tax.
6. Bring in an annual wealth tax, at progressive rates, on all individual asset ownership in excess of £10 millions, requiring all such persons to make an annual return with criminal penalties for inaccurate or false information. This should be supplemented by a mansion tax on big houses mainly in central London which are valued at more than £2 million, again at a progressive rate of tax, plus a Financial Transactions Tax aimed at discouraging short-termism in the City.
7. Repeal the whole of the Lansley 2012 Health and Social Care Act, and end and reverse privatisations and outsourcing within the NHS, if necessary seeking a public consultation as to whether the electorate wants a fully public service.
8. End the Govean fetish for so-called ‘free schools’ and return both them and all academies to the supervision of local education authorities, in order to protect the interests of poorer children and left-behind schools. Appoint a Commission to produce a plan for the full-scale integration within 10 years of the private schools within the national system , as is the case everywhere else in the world, and in order to end or significantly diminish the class-based nature of British society.
9. Require all tax havens to disclose the names of all British citizens holding accounts and the size of their accounts in those havens and then immediately levy the tax due, with the stipulation that failure to comply will lead to a penalty of double the original tax due. Require all multi-national companies to provide full details of their trading activities country-by-country to end the scandal of ‘Luxemburg’ false accounting in order to pay little or no tax.
10. Build at least 250,000 affordable social housing units per year to reduce Council waiting lists of 1.8 million as quickly as possible as well as to deliver a huge increase in jobs. Impose rent controls on privately rented properties where rents are in excess of 60% of the local average, and lay down decent minimum standards of accommodation and facilities which all private landlords must adhere to, with deterrent penalties for those who fail to do so.
On 3. is ‘full employment’ possible any more?
(Indeed did it ever really exist even in the 50s and 60s when so many women were excluded from the workforce?)
We are clearly undergoing another Great Transformation which is rapidly rendering whole categories of white collar and service jobs (my own included) as surplus to capital’s requirements as manufacturing jobs became in the 70s and 80s.
The answer to that can only be a recognition that not just ‘jobs for life’ but jobs in general are a thing of the past and the introduction of some kind of minimum guaranteed income.
And yet no politician (apart from the Greens who talk so much hippie nonsense on everything else that no one cares or notices when they do get something right) is willing to even discuss the central problem of late capitalism.
Unfortunately dont think there’s any chance that 1,2,5,6,8 will happen,but then I doubt we’ll win the election
As usual Jon Lansman has his finger on the pulse, or is it the trigger?
No5 is udsewful in rewarding the deserving poor in gainful employment and might persuade a large chunk of the undeserving poor into work.
Which ties in with No 2 Manufacturing, not all of us bright enough to go into technology industries and knowledge industries, but we like to do things with our hands and make things, like tailoring and car components.
And ties up with No 1 which means its pointless cutting things to the bone because skeletons rarely revive, instead we have to invest to build and grow the economy and get back to full employment, so every citizen is engaged in doing something from building houses to making match sticks.
And to build those homes, we have to scrap the current Green Belt, and bring in something more realistic.
All this boils down to educating for the future, and you don’t do that with ‘Free Schools’ or ‘Faith Schools’, but with ‘School No 205 in the District of Basildon’ and the like, which every child whatever their background attends, who lives in that catchment area.
Nice dream sadly way to late. I will be voting for UKIP at the next election for reason you can see in Swat comments.
”Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer … we’ll keep the Red Flag flying here!” Happy NY!
Swat you are all that is wrong in this country.