December « 2010 « Labour Uncut

Archive for December, 2010

Cheer up, comrade, and toast the leader

15/12/2010, 08:25:15 AM

by Tom Watson

Last week, every single Labour MP turned out to vote in the same division lobby. We voted ‘no’ to the tripling of tuition fees. There were no forgetful absences. Nobody rebelled. No-one sneaked off early. I couldn’t remember the last time this happened so I asked the House of Commons library to tell me. And guess what? It hadn’t happened in my parliamentary life. Not once since 2001 has the PLP felt collectively strong enough to march in complete unanimity through the same division lobby.

We’ve nearly ended our rollercoaster year with the whole Labour crew turning out resolutely to oppose David Cameron’s Tory-Lib Dem government. We’re ahead in the polls. Britain is now so broken that Nick Clegg can’t safely ride a bicycle – despite all those close protection officers. And the government is already a cabinet minister and a handful of PPSs down after resignations.

And when you started the New Year of 2010 would you, in your wildest dreams, have thought we’d be in such good shape today? I certainly didn’t. So cheer up, comrade. Your Christmas glass of sherry is half full, not half empty. (more…)

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Wednesday News Review

15/12/2010, 07:08:19 AM

Lords end student fees battle

Labour peers today mounted a strong challenge to plans to treble university tuition fees, including recruiting to their cause a crossbench peer and principal of an Oxford college, but were ultimately defeated in a House of Lords vote that allowed the government plans to clear parliament. The Lords chamber was packed for a vote in which a majority of peers chose not to back an amendment allowing for more consultation. Those voting in favour of the amendment numbered 215, but 283 voted against the call for more time. Peers also voted to support the government’s bid to raise the cap on tuition fees to £9,000. – Guardian

A minor rebellion headed by Baroness Sharp, the Liberal Democrat higher education spokesman, failed to cause significant damage, and the motion to allow fees of up to £9000 a year from 2012 was passed by 283 votes to 215 — a much greater margin than in the Commons last week where the Government’s majority fell to 21. In an eleventh-hour submission challenging the rise, John Saxbee, the Bishop of Lincoln told peers that it would normalise debt and was un-Christian. – Telegraph

Coalition urged to slow down over NHS reforms

Senior figures from across the health service have warned ministers that the NHS faces a “train crash” and could “implode” over the pace of the Government’s reform plans. The Health Secretary Andrew Lansley will publish details today on how the Government intends to manage the process by which GPs will begin to take over the commissioning of patient care from primary care trusts (PCTs). – Independent

The ConDem shake-up of the NHS was blasted as ¬“unrealistic” yesterday, amid fears it will put the sick and elderly at risk. The “bruising” reforms would push the health service to the limit, the Commons Health Select Committee warned. Health Secretary Andrew Lansley had “no credible plan” to make efficiency savings of £20billion over the next four years, it said. And they warned it is inevitable that councils would have to cut back on social care – potentially hitting thousands of elderly people who rely on it. – Mirror

Ed’s new boys

The Labour leader head-hunted two senior political journalists from the Mirror and the Times to revamp his campaigning operation, heralding a more aggressive media strategy. The new head of strategy and communications will be Tom Baldwin, whose reporting career has seen him both land scoops and land himself in controversy. A close friend of Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s spin doctor, Mr Baldwin ran a series of articles about senior Conservative donor Lord Ashcroft, resulting in a legal action and the peer making caustic allegations about the reporter in a book. While he plays a largely backroom role, daily media briefings will be carried out by Bob Roberts, Mirror political editor for three years. – Evening Standard

Tory grumbles over court closures

Tory MPs yesterday lined up to slam the Government for closing nearly 150 courts across England and Wales. Ministers sparked fury after saying 93 magistrates courts and 49 county courts would be axed. Sheryll Murray and Jonathan Lord, MPs for South East Cornwall and Woking, were among the Tories speaking out against closures of their local courts. Mr Lord said: “I’m extremely disappointed. Woking ¬magistrates court is purpose built with fantastic disabled access and excellent youth witness provision.” – Mirror

Cabinet member and Conservative MP for Sutton Coldfield Andrew Mitchell has lost his battle to save the town’s magistrates court after the Government announced a series of closures across the West Midlands. It is one of more than 140 courts to be closed in England and Wales, following the announcement. Mr Mitchell, the International Development Secretary, successfully led a Keep Justice Local campaign eight years ago when the future of Sutton magistrates was in doubt. More than 5,500 people signed a petition in protest at proposals to move the court’s caseload to Birmingham. But while he managed to save the court under the Labour government, it is now due to be closed. – Birmingham Post

Final straw for Firth

The Lib Dems have lost one of their most famous supporters after actor Colin Firth today revealed he could no longer back the party. The Bridget Jones actor said he is now ‘without affiliation’ in a fresh blow for Nick Clegg’s party who have few celebrity actors. Mr Firth said he has become disillusioned with the party and his ‘compass has not stopped spinning’ after they switched several of their policies after the election. – Daily Mail

The star of Pride and Prejudice and Bridget Jones’s Diary refused to criticise Clegg for forming a Coalition with the Conservative Party. “I’m not impugning his integrity, simply because I do believe he did what he thought was his only choice at that time, given the parliamentary situation and it being impossible to do a deal with Labour.” However, Firth, 50, said that the Coalition had compromised the LibDems and “made it difficult for us who thought progressive politics would be the way forward”. Firth and his wife, Livia, became friendly with Clegg and his wife, Miriam, in the run-up to the election. The actor joined Clegg on the election trail in May. – Telegraph

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The government’s empty promises on broadband

14/12/2010, 04:40:32 PM

by Ian Lucas

Jeremy Hunt says he will introduce high speed broadband across the UK by 2015. His deputy, Ed Vaizey, says the government does not know how much this will cost. Confused? That is exactly what is intended. It suits the government to envelope the topic of broadband in a freezing fog because it is trying to sell a bum deal.

Universal broadband, that is, broadband to every community in the UK, was guaranteed by Labour by 2012. It was to be paid for, as specified in Stephen Carter’s “Digital Britain” white paper, by £230 million left over from the digital switchover fund. This was a major step to enable public service delivery by broadband.

The Tories and Lib-Dems have set back even the target for universal broadband to 2015, dealing a major blow to real progress to online services in this parliament. To fog the issue further, the government have mixed in Labour’s second goal – high speed broadband.

Labour gave a manifesto commitment to fund a national high-speed broadband network through a levy on phone lines. This was controversial but costed. In contrast, the Tories have asked those nice people from the BBC to pay £600 million over four years as a contribution to the cost of high speed broadband. £300 million of that money is not available until after the Government’s target date for completion and is payable in 2015/6 and 2016/7.

The Government does not know how much its commitment to high speed broadband will cost. Ed Vaizey said so in the answer to a parliamentary question on 1 December. But it is trying to sell its realisation by 2015 anyway.

So, be sceptical. Unless and until the Government tell us how much their high speed broadband will cost and where that figure will be sourced, its achievement by 2015 will not be credible.

Ian Lucas is Labour MP for Wrexham and a shadow business minister.

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Devil in detail part 9: inheritance tax cut for the super-rich

14/12/2010, 01:02:06 PM

by Neil Lovatt

Under new government proposals published last week, it will now be possible for the super rich to use their pension assets to avoid inheritance tax. The requirement for pension assets to be paid out within a person’s lifetime is removed in the new arrangements. But pension assets sit outside the IHT regime. Thus by leaving substantial assets in their pensions at death, the very wealthy will henceforth be able to avoid enormous amounts of inheritance tax.

The full set of the government’s proposed pension changes is here, and they are unlikely to be read by anyone other than the odd policy wonk, such as myself, or a specialist journalist with a readership of a few hundred. It’s hardly front page news, but it should be.

The problem with pensions is their inflexibility. The tabloid media waste no time in stoking the flames of hate over pension rules restricting access to your money. (more…)

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I am not a Lab Dem. I am a free man.

14/12/2010, 07:00:16 AM

by Dan Hodges

Still they come. Nick Clegg’s tired, hungry, huddled masses. The Liberal Democrat refugees.

Labour is providing them with sanctuary. Of the 30,000 new members who have joined the party since the election, almost a third of them are reportedly former Lib Dem members.

The pace of the relief operation is set to intensify. The Sunday Times carried “a bold appeal” from Ed Miliband for “disaffected Liberal Democrat MPs to join the opposition to the coalition”. There are rumors that the shadow cabinet is preparing a charity re-mix of the Red Flag in time for Christmas. Billy Bragg is considering a “Lib Aid” concert at the O2.

OK, I made up those last bits. But our tanks are no longer parked on Clegg’s lawn. They’ve bulldozed through the French windows and are rumbling towards the dinning room.

In the wake of the tuition fees debacle, it may appear to be a sound strategy. The Lib Dems are a broken party. Just look at Vince Cable. At the start of the year he was one of the brightest stars in the political firmament. Standing at the dispatch box on Thursday, attempting to justify his tuition fee betrayal, he resembled one of the Germans at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark who have unleashed the furies of the covenant. It was as if the life force were being sucked from his body. (more…)

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Tuesday News Review

14/12/2010, 06:59:23 AM

It’s not over yet

Controversial government plans to raise university tuition fees in England to as much as £9,000 a year are to be debated by peers. In the Lords’ vote, Labour peers will have to overturn a coalition majority of 40 to have a chance of blocking the government’s education proposals. Labour’s leader in the Lords, Baroness Royall, said: “Labour opposed the government’s policy in the Commons last week, and Labour will oppose the government’s policy in the Lords this week.– BBC Politics

The Liberal Democrats ran into fresh trouble today when the party’shigher education spokeswoman in the Lords, Lady Sharp, said she was not sure she could vote tomorrow for the coalition government’s trebling of tuition fees. Sharp told the Guardian: “I face a dilemma. I have a lot of reservations, and I am in the same position as many Liberal Democrat MPs. I have not decided how to vote.” – Guardian

Labour reaches out

Labour leader Ed Miliband yesterday appealed to disgruntled Liberal Democrats to work with him against the UK coalition Government. With 21 Lib-Dem MPs having voted against government plans to raise university tuition fees in England, Mr Miliband said the party should recognise its “common interests” with Labour. At his first Westminster press conference since becoming Labour leader, he called on Lib Dems to submit ideas to Labour’s policy review. – Western Mail

No pork in Pickle’s agenda

The biggest cuts to police and local councils “in living memory” were yesterday unveiled by ministers with some parts of the country losing almost 10 per cent of their budget in a single year. Inner city areas of Liverpool and Manchester and parts of London including Hackney will be worst hit with spending reductions of 8.9 per cent. However richer parts of the country such as Surrey, Buckinghamshire and Wiltshire fare much better with cuts of less that 1 per cent. – Independent

The revolution in local government outlined in Eric Pickles‘s localism bill has laid ministers open to the charge that their package of new powers coupled with drastic spending cuts will hit the poorest in society hardest, enable big business to buy off local opposition and devolve difficult political decisions to councils at a time when they are least able to cope with them. Overshadowing the devolved powers in the bill are the cuts imposed on local councils and the impact on local services as well as the potential job losses, amid claims that more than 140,000 people will be handed redundancy notices by town halls next year. – Guardian

Cost guard Cuts

Opposition MPs claimed lives would inevitably be put at risk if the cutbacks were put in place, and rank-and-file coastguards spoke privately of “an impending disaster”. Angus Robertson, defence spokesman for the Scottish National Party, said: “The Tory government is putting lives at risk on sea and land by their reckless cuts to the Coastguard and privatisation plan for Search and Rescue services. The coalition is planning to sell off the search-and-rescue service to a foreign consortium. – Telegraph

Don’t forget me

The former foreign secretary said his brother Ed had ‘done well’ since winning their battle for control and it was a ‘very difficult job being leader of the opposition, especially in the first year of a parliament’. The 45-year-old added: ‘I have no plans to return to front-line politics – at the moment, that is. ‘For now, I’m doing what’s best for the party and leaving the field open for Ed to lead the party. I’ve got to admit, I wish the leadership campaign had gone differently but who knows what will happen in the future?’ – Metro

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Wonking in a winterval wonderland

13/12/2010, 01:00:49 PM

by Atul Hatwal

Santa is coming, bringing his annual sleigh of seasonal stories – will it or won’t it be a white Christmas; who can stop an X-Factor number 1 and that festive favourite: council bans Christmas so as not to offend minorities.

The “war on Christmas”, as Fox News puts it, is raging. From thwarted nativities in primary schools to international conspiracies to rebrand the whole thing as Winterval, a blizzard of synthetic outrage is blowing.

As these stories speckle the media through December, an old challenge awaits the new leader of the Labour party: the Christmas test.

Remember the Tebbit test? Well, add some tinsel and substitute cricket with Christmas.

Ed’s choice of Christmas cards will come under the spotlight. Do they mention the word Christmas or is there just vague talk of “happy holidays”? How will the first Jewish leader in well over half a century handle the c-word – Christianity? And what about on the day – will it be turkey with all the trimmings or does he prefer the vegan option?

Forget fees or cuts, commentators will pore over the answers to resolve the most pressing question of the day: Is Ed Milliband on the side of middle England, Christmas decency or does he stand with nativity-hating, godless, Wintervalistas? (more…)

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Tory local government leader lets slip their contempt for the north

13/12/2010, 10:49:11 AM

If you can’t see the letter in the document viewer below, the plain text version is here.

Letter to PM From Michael Dugher.2

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Tory local government leader lets slip their contempt for the north

13/12/2010, 10:48:47 AM

Prime Minister

10 Downing Street

London
SW1A 2AA

13 December 2010

Dear Prime Minister,

I am writing to bring your attention to the recent offensive comments made by the leader of the Local Government Association’s (LGA) Conservative group, Councillor David Shakespeare. (more…)

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Replacing nanny with a nudge is no joke

13/12/2010, 07:00:54 AM

by Michael Dugher

Andrew Lansley, the health secretary, recently announced the government’s plans to improve public health in the white paper, Healthy Lives, Healthy People. So what exactly is the plan? Well… it’s to “nudge” people more. They want to nudge people to make the right decisions when it comes to their health, rather than the so-called “nanny state” approach taken by Labour, where the “man in Whitehall” was telling people how to live their lives. The idea is that people can be enticed, instead of being coerced, into making better decisions. It is, of course, total nonsense.

“Nudging” is one of the government’s new buzzwords. It was made popular by Professor Richard Thaler, an adviser to David Cameron in the cabinet office’s behavioural insight team or “nudge unit”. And, no, I am not making this up. This is the infamous, supposedly civil service, team that includes former Conservative party staffer, Anna-Maren Ashford, Cameron’s personal image consultant and head of “Brand Dave” before the election.

Labour made huge improvements in public health, but the new government’s white paper comes against a backdrop of the NHS, and indeed other healthcare systems around the world, struggling to cope with the demands of a population that is eating too much, drinking too much, smoking and not doing enough exercise. I speak from some experience, though I gave up smoking several years ago in a moment of good sense. It is curious to remember that the founding fathers of the NHS actually believed that demands on the institution would gradually decline over the years, as people were treated and made healthier and would therefore not need to use the health service as much. Instead, of course, demand rocketed as people began to live longer, as technologies and treatments improved exponentially, and as we grapple with the health problems associated with twenty first century living. (more…)

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