On two related issues, the Beckett Report and Labour’s overall level of support, there has not been a sufficiently robust response from the left.
On Beckett there would appear to be general agreement that the failure to even attempt to dispel the myth that Labour was responsible for the 2008 crash because of over expenditure rather than bank ‘sub prime’ lending was a key factor. It should have been the key issue, as Michael Meacher consistently and rightly argued in Left Futures and elsewhere, and without substantial acceptance that Labour was not to blame it is doubtful whether the election could have been won, irrespective of more favourable approaches in other areas. Continue reading
Welsh Labour’s annual conference, held in Llandudno last weekend, saw the party united in condemnation of the Tories’ devastating policies but upbeat about Labour’s chances of victory of 2015. During a refreshingly open Q&A session, Ed Miliband paid fulsome tribute to Carwyn Jones’ Cardiff administration, from which he said the British party could learn. 
At a time when pluralism versus tribalism is so much talked about, is it not surprising that one of Labour’s great taboos remains discussing electoral arrangements with other parties — pre-election deals? And yet we now have, for some elections, electoral systems which at least some of the time mean that a Labour vote is absolutely wasted, not because we’re doing badly but because we’re doing so well. 
