Posted by Paul Cotterill

The truth about Labour and Austerity

Austerity is failingThe labour movement’s post-election battleground: Part I of II

Back in January, I was invited by Left Futures to provide a response to a post by Trevor Fisher.  Trevor considers Labour a lost cause when it comes to austerity. This is his conclusion:

The objective of the austerity movement is to destroy everything that Lloyd George and the political consensus that we have known for the last 90 years. A co-ordinated response can defeat the political objective of the neo-liberals to set up a new anti-state consensus.

So why is it not happening? The Labour Party cannot be changed in the near future. It has embarked as New Labour on a Titanic style voyage into the ice field, at high speed. Labour is part of the problem, not part of the solution. It is time to look for lifeboats. The solution has to be a people’s movement against austerity. The existing work of the People’s Assembly has to be boosted.

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On Progress and the parliamentary candidate selection process

Richard Angell, Deputy Head of Progress party-within-the-party, has written an interesting column on how Labour parliamentary candidates are selected and new rules to increase working-class representation.  This might sound dull as ditchwater, but the process is actually a pretty key variable when it comes to what kind of person we end up getting to represent us in parliament.

Richard, who runs Progress’s member-only selection training, claims that: Continue reading →