In contrast to most of the other NPF Policy Commission reports the Economy Report proposals are more reflective of the new “Corbynite” Left Keynesian agenda than the poor quality material it produced prior to the General Election. This is obviously good in itself, but peculiar in policy development process terms. Thus, this latest report “touches […]
Posts under ‘Infrastructure’
The NPF Economy, Business and Trade Report – some progress made, but a long way to go
Aug 21st, 2017 by John Penney.
Labour needs to rediscover comprehensive economic planning
Dec 19th, 2016 by John Penney.In his barnstorming 2015 and 2016 Labour Leadership campaigns Jeremy Corbyn outlined a series of, very enthusiastically received policy offers of a distinctly left Keynesian, anti-austerity hue. These proposals ranged from renationalising the railways, to fully re-nationalising and refunding the NHS, establishing a universal free national education service, nationalising key utilities, controlling the banks more […]
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Government intervention is vital to save steel and reverse industrial decline
Apr 15th, 2016 by Steve Laughton.Ken Clarke was pronouncing on Radio 4 several days ago that in the eighties people were calling for nationalisation to save British industry. He claimed the idea that the UK will collapse unless the government steps in has been heard before and is tired old nonsense. He seemed to think that history and the magic of free […]
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Rotten Tory ideology is laid bare by crisis in steel
Mar 31st, 2016 by Michael Burke.In order to defeat Osbornomics it is necessary to understand it. A central tenet is that the private sector is the key to prosperity and that therefore everything possible should be done to promote and encourage it. The state should shrink in order to release the inherent dynamism of the private sector. The argument runs […]
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Labour, John McDonnell and the New Economics
Mar 13th, 2016 by David Pavett.Once the surprise and the shock of Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour leader had sunk in, many (including me) became impatient for policy initiatives and membership involvement in policy formation to come to the fore. Clearly cutting through media hostility is a major task but I find it difficult to see that more could not […]
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Yvette Cooper is wrong about nationalisation
Feb 25th, 2016 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.This was bound to come back at some point. In a speech this week to launch The Changing Work Centre – a new think tank looking at, you guessed it, the changing nature of work – Yvette Cooper admonished Jez and John McDonnell for talking about re-nationalisation. “Labour must not get drawn into touting yesterday’s […]
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Labour’s economic alternative should centre on a national investment bank
Feb 16th, 2016 by Michael Burke and John Ross.Labour is now carrying out extremely effective campaigning against Tory policies – on tax credits, on the sweetheart Google taxation deal, in support of the junior doctors and pinning the responsibility for the crisis in the NHS squarely on the Tories. This excellent work needs to continue and be strengthened. But in the forthcoming budget […]
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What level of investment should Corbyn & McDonnell aim for?
Jan 22nd, 2016 by Michael Burke.The policies outlined by Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell have the capacity to transform the economic debate in Britain. More importantly, if the ideas outlined for an investment-led recovery are implemented then they could alter the trajectory of the British economy, from stagnation and rising inequality towards sustainable growth and a general rise in living […]
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iPads + superfast broadband = socialism (or maybe just a kinder, fairer capitalism)
Nov 22nd, 2015 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.Socialism is Jeremy Corbyn in Number 10 plus superfast broadband! Okay, not as pithy as Lenin’s definition involving soviet power and electrification, but John McDonnell’s speech on Wednesday is a continuation of a fine tradition in left and centre left politics: the close alignment of our policy agenda with technological dynamism. Though, of course, it’s […]
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On Tory indifference to steel and to human tragedy, and their hatred of solidarity
Oct 25th, 2015 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.It was like the crashing of dominoes, except the toppling was done by livelihoods, supply chains, ways of life. First, SSI in Redcar announced it was going belly up. And after toing and froing with the government, once it was clear state aid wasn’t forthcoming it was as if Britain’s steel bosses huddled together and […]
