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Archive for May, 2011

AV may be dead, but our obsession with marginals needs to go too

14/05/2011, 02:43:21 PM

by Ben Cobley

So the AV referendum is come and gone. Life has quickly gone back to normal without many of us giving the whole blasted charade much more thought.

That is in many ways a blessing, for while plenty of energy was injected into the campaigns, they quickly reverted to the sort of down-and-dirty tribal mud-slinging that we already get more than enough of in party politics. Once the campaign went down this route, the coalition of Tories and Labour tribalists on the No campaign was always going to triumph.

For Labour, there is now a temptation for us to shrug our shoulders, be thankful that we did not have a disastrous split, and continue as we were.

However that would be a mistake; there are lessons to be learned. The debate on AV gave us an opportunity to think deeply about the way we do our politics both within the Labour party and in the country as a whole– and for some of us it cast a light on the present way of doing things that was far from flattering.

The lessons to be learned also tie in with those issues arising from disastrous Scottish election results and the disappointingly piecemeal gains in southern England, which remains a desert for Labour. They are about how we do our politics –particularly the way that we willingly turn our backs of whole swathes of the nation in a quest for short-term advantage in a few marginal seats. (more…)

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Opening doors and breaking barriers, or smoke and mirrors

14/05/2011, 12:00:22 PM

by Hugh Goulbourne

Nick Clegg’s social mobility strategy – Opening Doors, Breaking Barriers – has attracted much attention from the media. But are the proposals anything more than just a way of diverting attention from this government’s clumsy budget cuts which have left millions of people, especially those aged 16-25, without access to vital traineeships and work experience opportunities?

The overarching principle set out in Opening Doors, Breaking Barriers is a sound one, namely that “no one should be prevented from fulfilling their potential by the circumstances of their birth” and instead “what ought to count is how hard you work and the skills and talents you possess, not the school you went to or the jobs your parents did”. Indeed it is the very principle that all of us in the Labour party sign up for when we join.

Under New Labour, a series of interventions were made to help target internships and apprenticeships at those from unprivileged backgrounds. Perhaps the most successful of those programmes was the future jobs fund (FJF). The FJF programme provides a grant to charities, social enterprises and local government to offer a paid contract of employment to an individual aged 18 – 24 who has been out of employment for six months – in effect a paid internship.

The experience of the FJF demonstrates the importance of paid internships in opening up vital work experience to those without existing financial support. In West Yorkshire, a consortium of not for profit arts organisations have used the final slice of FJF funding to provide an internship to a local arts graduate, who, despite a good degree and several voluntary positions, has not been able to find the requisite workplace experience to be able to secure full-time employment. All over the country, the programme has been a success, with well over 50% of those who have joined the FJF scheme ceasing to claim job seekers allowance and entering into paid employment seven months after they started the programme.

FJF was axed in April, together with a number of other Labour programmes as part of the government’s spending cuts. It will be replaced by a new code for government internships, a new business compact for fairer, more open internship and work experience programmes and the new work programme.

The first limb of Clegg’s proposals – the reform of government internships and the removal of barriers to internships within the professions and corporate organisations – has already attracted widespread support from those within the Labour party. These are certainly sectors of the economy where significant investment should be directed towards developing a new generation of workers from a range of backgrounds. (more…)

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The week Uncut

14/05/2011, 10:30:37 AM

In case you missed them, these were the best read pieces on Uncut in the last seven days:

Tom Harris examines what went wrong in Scotland

Atul Hatwal looks for Labour’s plan B

Dan Hodges is sick of losing for the same reason

Lisa Ansell offers up the first part of her state of play analysis

Anthony Painter says everyone is ignoring us, because we’re weird

Sunder Katwala wants us to laugh at Dan Hodges & Neal Lawson

Julianne Marriott says it’s time Labour stand up for the hardest hit

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Saturday News Review

14/05/2011, 06:17:06 AM

Covenant will be law

David Cameron will unveil the move next week in an attempt to defuse anger over the treatment of Britain’s soldiers, sailors and airmen – particularly when they retire or return from service abroad. It had been feared that the Prime Minister was backing away from a pledge to give the Armed Forces “a new military covenant that’s written into the law of the land”. However, a defence minister told The Daily Telegraph that the Government’s plans, to be announced in the House of Commons on Monday, would put the covenant “on a statutory basis for the first time”. Military chiefs are said to be unhappy about recommendations made by Lord Hutton of Furness’s independent report on public sector pensions that would end final-salary payouts for the Armed Forces and raise their retirement age. Mr Cameron’s original promise to put the agreement on a legal footing was supposed to be fulfilled by the Armed Forces Bill, which is passing through Parliament. Whitehall lawyers warned ministers that making legal promises to provide certain public services could expose the Government and the Armed Forces to lawsuits. – Daily Telegraph

‘Greenest Government ever’, you must be kidding

Exactly a year on from David Cameron’s pledge to make the newly elected coalition the “greenest government ever”, 15 charities will today warn the Prime Minister that, without stronger leadership, his promise will be left “in tatters”. Friends of the Earth, Green Alliance, Christian Aid, WWF and Greenpeace are among the signatories of the letter, which accuses the government of “losing its way” with environmental policy after initially highighting the green agenda as a central plank of coalition policy. The letter praises the government for delivering the Renewable Heat Incentive, introducing plans for a Green Investment Bank, and signing up to the international biodiversity deal agreed at the Nagoya summit last year. But the group warns of “perceived uncertainty about the direction of UK policy” over the past year, which it blames for the UK’s plummeting from third to 13th in the international league table of attractiveness to clean energy investors. – Business Green

Is it really a year since David Cameron, newly ensconced as prime minister, assured us that the coalition would be the “greenest government ever”? It’s an anniversary worth remembering, if only to consider how, in environmental terms, Cameron’s government seems stuck in reverse. But cast your mind back further to 2006, when Cameron took a trip to the Norwegian Arctic to pose with huskies and become personally acquainted with the effects of climate change. At the time, he said “since becoming leader of the Conservative Party, I have sought to push the environment up to the top of the political agenda.” Vote blue, go green was the message. So with the help of our own cheeky version of Mr Cameron and a team of eager huskies stationed outside the Houses of Parliament, we want to make sure the prime minister and his government don’t make a mockery of commitments made in opposition and in government. Because on recent evidence – and even with the traditionally greener leanings of the Lib Dems – I’d say we’re a long way off having the greenest government ever. – Greenpeace.org.uk

Missed target after missed target

The Coalition has missed dozens of key targets during its first year in power, official documents revealed yesterday. Updated ‘business plans’ released by the Government show that 87 major ‘milestones’ have been missed across Whitehall in the five months since the plans were first published. Documents show that welfare chiefs have been forced to abandon plans to automate the processing of all benefit claims, after deciding it was ‘not possible’. The ambitious proposal was included among publicly stated goals in the Department for Work and Pensions’ business plan for completion by October next year. But in the latest update, officials admit it has already proved impossible and massively watered down the project. It will instead deal with 75 per cent of claims for just one type of benefit. The documents also confirm that the commission investigating the creation of a British Bill of Rights will not report until the end of next year – a whole year later than originally hoped. – Daily Mail

While other Whitehall departments have published details of their intentions for the next four years, the Department of Health said yesterday it would not release any information until its “listening exercise” on the controversial shake-up is complete. The move comes as Health Secretary Andrew Lansley struggles to defend the reforms, which include putting GPs in charge of commissioning services. Across the board government departments have missed dozens of their own key targets leaving the business, environment and “big society” projects months behind schedule. In total, 87 “milestones” have been missed, forcing ministers to rewrite the deadlines to give themselves extra time. But it is problems in the Department of Health which continue to provide the biggest headache for ministers. – the Independent

Government wine cellar avoids the cuts

The lavish £2million wine cellar owned by the government has been spared from the Chancellor’s cuts. There are 39,000 bottles in the store, including a 1961 Chateau Latour, which sells for up to £10,000 a time. Both Tory and Lib Dem MPs were critical of the stock before they took power. But it emerged yesterday the bulk will be kept, despite George Osborne’s claims that every penny is needed to pay off the deficit. Some of the most expensive vintages are to be sold off and the proceeds used to pay for what the Foreign Office refers to as reception wine. Old Etonian Foreign Office Minister Henry Bellingham insisted the Government needs fine wine for entertaining visiting dignitaries. Mr Bellingham said: “If we sold the cellar, we’d have to go out and buy wine and that would be much more costly. The purchase of wine is going to be self-financing.”- Daily Mirror

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Sleepwalking to irrelvance, part 1

13/05/2011, 12:00:03 PM

by Lisa Ansell

After a year in which Labour believed it could be all things to all people, last week’s election result brought home the pickle the party is in. Gleeful delight over a Liberal Democrat implosion, and debates about a voting system many didn’t want or care about are fun, but Labour’s results show the British political map is being redrawn. David Cameron faced taunts that with deep seated anger at a Labour government, he couldn’t achieve a convincing lead. Labour’s problems are much much deeper.

With ‘Cleggmania’ long forgotten, the assumption that everyone fed up with the Labour party would duly return home out of anger with Tory-Lib Dem government were misguided. This should have been no surprise. Support in Scotland collapsed, and with it the support that would have facilitated the move to the left that many within the party yearn for. Those precious southern swing voters successfully poached by Blair have left Labour, travelled through the Lib Dems, and, dependent on which side of the fence they were on to begin with, have settled back home as Conservatives, or are cast adrift. Any gains to be made from anger at the government have already been made. Conservative support has consolidated, the Liberal Democrats have rendered themselves unnecessary. Cameron has a clear message, solid support, funds to fight an election.

Labour’s most secure support came from the north of England, where the perception of Labour as opposition to the cuts was the driver for campaigns. Towns like Barnsley and Oldham, where hordes of Islingtonites had failed to suppress dismay at the lack of facilities, while they informed residents that Labour was the only option for them. Towns where the inequality that Labour was comfortable with is demonstrated clearly, where Labour’s cuts are already hitting hard.

(more…)

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Labour’s plan B: concede and move on, and more

13/05/2011, 07:00:33 AM

by Atul Hatwal

These are conflicted times for the Labour party. As the impact of last week’s election results has sunk in, two opposing camps have emerged.

On one side is the leadership and its loyalists. The official line is that the current strategy is working. In this interpretation, last week’s results were pretty good. 800 odd new councillors, an 8% increase in the national share of the vote and a Labour administration in Wales are indeed positives.

Not everything is perfect, ahem, Scotland, but things are basically going to plan.

On the other side are those unhappy with the current strategy. This is a big tent. In it, among many others, are Dan Hodges, Sunny Hundal and Rob Marchant and, based on his speech to Progress, Ivan Lewis, the shadow culture secretary.

For this camp, last week was a disaster. At a time of unprecedented government cuts, Labour managed to lose the popular vote in both England and Scotland and virtually no Tory voters from the general election switched to Labour.

Plan A is failing and unless something is done soon, Labour faces a dismal return to the 1980s.

Cards on the table, I’m no fan of plan A. My own post last week puts me slap bang in the middle of the unhappy tent. But over the past week, reading the different despairing takes on Labour’s performance, one thing has leapt out.

There’s no plan B.

Not in the sense that we are doomed and nothing can save the party, but that the focus of analysis has been on why it went wrong rather than what can put it right.

(more…)

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Friday News Review

13/05/2011, 06:51:09 AM

C’mon Carwyn

Carwyn Jones will today unveil his new Cabinet after swearing an oath of office and formally taking the reins of government. A list of up to 12 Labour AMs nominated as ministers was sent to Buckingham Palace yesterday to receive the Queen’s approval, which is expected to arrive today. Mr Jones will then reveal the make-up of his new Labour-only Cabinet after winning 30 seats in last week’s Assembly Election, making them by far the largest party but with no majority. Mr Jones announced on Tuesday that he would be going it alone as head of a Labour-only Government rather than seek a deal with any other party. He said yesterday: “I am honoured to serve the people of Wales as First Minister and begin our ambitious programme to create a fairer, more prosperous country in these challenging times.” – Western Mail

We’ve gone six years back

Households may have suffered their biggest drop in take-home incomes for 30 years, a leading economic think-tank has warned. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said that analysis of new official figures suggest it was “entirely possible” that median incomes dropped by 3% in 2010-11. Such a fall would leave income levels back where they were six years earlier, the IFS said. The IFS’s analysis is based on household income data for 2009-10 just released by the Department for Work and Pensions. It shows that median incomes continued to grow by 1.6% – following similar sluggish growth the previous year – despite the effects of the recession. However, the IFS warned that these increases were likely to have “more than unwound” in 2010-11 as the long-term effects of the recession are felt and higher inflation erodes living standards. It said that data already available for the first 11 months of 2010-11 showed earnings fell by 3.8%, while its own forecasts pointed to a fall in median incomes of around 3%. – Daily Mirror

The first of many

The Liberal Democrat group in Rochdale has announced changes to its leadership. Councillor Wera Hobhouse will take over from Councillor Irene Davidson as the Leader of the group and Councillor Zulfiqar Ali will take over from Councillor Dale Mulgrew as the Deputy Leader of the group. Councillor Hobhouse has been a Councillor in the Norden since 2004 and Councillor Ali has been a Councillor for Central Ward since 1998 and is the outgoing Mayor. The move comes following a difficult year for the Lib Dems. Towards the back end of 2010 seven members broke away and formed the short-lived Independent Alliance group. A further three Councillors have since defected to the Conservative party. The group also suffered heavily on election night. – Rochdale News

Physics could be the next to suffer

Deep funding cuts could put the UK’s prominence in astronomy and particle physics at risk, MPs have said. The Science and Technology Committee says astronomy funding will fall by 20% over four years – the science budget’s average real-terms cut was 14.5%. The MPs say some of the resulting cuts are likely to deter leading scientists from working in the UK. The government says it has protected the science budget but cannot make individual funding decisions. Committee chairman Labour MP Andrew Miller said: “If you don’t invest in big science at the level it needs, it’s going to have a big impact on our competitiveness and pre-eminence in areas that are important to the country.” – BBC News

Clegg fires independence warning

Nick Clegg has warned Alex Salmond not to “misinterpret his mandate” by believing the SNP’s landslide victory in the Holyrood election was an expression of support for Scottish independence. The Deputy Prime Minister also did not rule out completely Westminster instigating its own Scottish referendum.That would almost certainly pre-empt the one planned by the First Minister well into the second half of the five-year Holyrood Parliament, ie from 2014 onwards. He said: “I’m not personally – at the moment – persuaded that what we want to do is try and develop some sort of Gunfight at the OK Corral, where we threaten each other with referendums. I’m not sure that is the best way to proceed.” However, Mr Clegg, appearing before the Commons Constitutional and Political Reform Committee, seemed to suggest the door on a Westminster referendum had not been entirely closed. – Daily Herald

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We must learn to make hard choices, or fail

12/05/2011, 05:42:56 PM

by Rob Marchant

There are four types of election result. Ones that are undeniably good. Ones that are undeniably bad. Ones that are on balance good, but look otherwise. And those that are on balance bad, but look otherwise.

The most dangerous, obviously, are the last. There is a risk that, like an alcoholic, you don’t notice, or don’t accept, that there’s a problem.

And, excluding Scotland, we had a night that looked good. We won back a bunch of seats in the English local elections and scraped home in Wales. A mixed bag, perhaps, but respectable.

Now, Scotland was clearly a disaster and deserves a separate post all to itself (let’s be fair, it seems a problem all its own, unconnected to Labour’s national strategy). Wales, again, is a separate case. As for the positive results in England, three possible explanations come to mind.

One: a vindication of Labour policies. It’s not. This one’s straightforward: we don’t yet, by common consent, have defined policies. Ergo, it can’t be a vindication of them.

Two: the first electoral vindication of Ed Miliband as leader. It’s not. That’s not because he’s not a popular leader: it’s just too early to say. And that’s for the simple reason that most of the population, outside the Westminster and party bubbles, will still have no idea who he is and what he stands for. That’s the reality of having a relatively unknown figure suddenly come to prominence. Therefore, this cannot be reasonably seen as a vindication of his leadership.

Three: discontent with the Coalition. The only reasonable explanation: discontent was manifested with the Lib Dems in particular, Nick Clegg reprising his now-familiar role of lightning conductor for the Tories.

However, we also need to be aware of the difference between, on the one hand, giving the Coalition a bloody nose; and, on the other, giving it its marching orders. (more…)

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The NHS doesn’t need Tory reorganisation, but it does need reform

12/05/2011, 07:00:43 AM

by Peter Watt

I am furious about the Lansley NHS reforms, but not just because of their well documented failures. We all know the arguments against them: another top down reorganisation, competition on price not outcome, cherry picking by the private sector and all that. The Tory-Lib Dem government is, of course, engaging in post-May 5 good cop, bad cop role playing in an attempt to dig themselves out of their hole. I have no doubt that their instinct for survival will lead them to deal with the worst excesses. The Tories, in particular, are rightly terrified of an NHS-led electoral backlash.

But right now, that is not what’s making me so angry. What is making me angry is the real danger that this row will set back the cause of vital NHS reform for years.

Under Labour, the NHS made some significant progress. We introduced choice for patients and gave them statutory rights about what they could expect from the NHS. A variety of suppliers were introduced into the health market and improved commissioning lead to reduced unit costs, greater numbers of treatments, improving health outcomes and shorter waiting times.

And budgets were increased considerably. In fact, you could argue that budgets were increased faster than the reforms could cope with. The result is that there is undoubtedly room for significant efficiency savings.

(more…)

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Thursday News Review

12/05/2011, 06:53:52 AM

£60m, a drop in the Future Job Fund’s ocean

David Cameron and Nick Clegg will be together at an event later to launch a government drive on youth unemployment. The prime minister and his deputy will announce a £60m package to boost work prospects and vocational education. They will commit in their appearance in London to tackle “structural barriers” to young people starting a career. It comes as the coalition is under more strain after the flagship policy of directly elected police commissioners was defeated in the House of Lords. – BBC News

The Government has announced a £60m funding boost to help youth employment. As nearly 700,000 14- to 18-year-olds are currently not in employment or full-time education, it is hoped the cash will help boost apprenticeships and reform vocational education. The announcement comes as 100 large companies and tens of thousands of small companies across the country have responded to the Government’s call and pledged to offer work experience places. In total the coalition will provide funding for up to 250,000 more apprenticeships over the next four years, and funding for 100,000 work placements over the next two years. The £60m will be spent over the three years and fund more early access Work Programme places, increase the capacity of Jobcentre Plus to support teenagers who are not in education, employment or training and pay for a new £10m per year Innovation Fund to help disadvantaged people. – Yorkshire Post

The war on red tape claims its first victims

Unions have rounded on the government over plans to water down workers’ rights to “make it easier for businesses to grow”. Lib Dem minister Ed Davey will announce the new areas of employment legislation up for review at the Institute for Economic Affairs as the government attempts to clear away restrictions for employers. It will consult on cutting compensation payments for discrimination, reducing the current 90-day timescale for firms to consult over job losses, and changing the Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment Regulations (Tupe) which protects the pay and conditions of public sector workers transferred between companies. One law firm has warned that the move will disadvantage women and ethnic minority workers. The government is already simplifying the employment tribunal system, looking at extending the period before an unfair dismissal claim can be brought and reviewing the system for managing sickness absence. – the Guardian

Workers are set to receive less protection against redundancy, dismissal and workplace discrimination as the Chancellor George Osborne tears up sections of employment law so businesses can dispose of their staff more easily. Mr Osborne has proposed imposing a cap on awards given in cases of discrimination and abuse in the workplace on the grounds of race or gender. Employers will also be able to sack people more quickly. As well as introducing fees and new rules to prevent “vexatious” claims at employment tribunals, the Government wants to review the unlimited penalties currently applied in employment tribunals, simplify the administration of the national minimum wage and reform the consultation period for collective redundancies. Mr Osborne attacked the trade unions as “the forces of stagnation” who “will try to stand in the way of the forces of enterprise”. The Chancellor’s words were criticised by the unions and Labour Party. John Denham, the shadow Business Secretary, said: “George Osborne’s only idea for growth is to make it easier to cut pay and pensions, dismiss employees without giving time to plan for the future, and make working life more insecure. Successful companies have a workforce that is confident, dedicated and fairly rewarded.” – the Independent

Lords ‘rip the heart’ out of policing bill

Rebel Liberal Democrats scuppered flagship Tory plans for elected police commissioners last night. Former Met chief Ian Blair sided with Lib Dem peers to inflict a bruising Lords defeat on David Cameron. The introduction of elected police chiefs – with the power to hire and fire chief constables – is the Prime Minister’s flagship law and order policy. The Tories say it is vital for making police more accountable to the public. But peers voted to change the plan so that commissioners are appointed by policing panels – not the public – leaving the plan worthless. Liberal Democrat Baroness Harris of Richmond, who led the revolt, said the proposals ‘put so much power in the hands of one person’ that they posed ‘great risks to policing’. The independent peer claimed there was nothing to stop a police commissioner ‘just announcing that he has got rid of the chief constable, or that he wishes to get rid of the chief constable or he has no confidence in the chief constable.’ Analysis of division lists showed there were 13 Lib Dem rebels. The Government’s position was supported by 36 Lib Dem peers. Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: ‘The Lords have ripped the heart out of this deeply flawed flagship Bill’. – Daily Mail

David Cameron suffered a major set-back last night after his flagship plan for elected police commissioners was chucked out in the House of Lords. Peers instead backed a rebel Lib Dem move that would see the commissioners appointed rather than directly elected. The PM wanted to see commissioners elected from May next year to replace police authorities in England and Wales. They would have the power to hire and fire chief constables and set forces’ budget and “strategic direction”. But under Lib Dem Baroness Harris of Richmond’s amendment, the chiefs would be chosen by a police and crime panel and not by the public. She raised deep fears over plans that would pose “great risks to policing”. – Daily Mirror

Change or lose

Ed Miliband has been given an astonishing warning by a senior shadow Cabinet minister that he is on course to lose the next election. Shadow culture secretary Ivan Lewis, who backed David Miliband in the Labour leadership contest, said the party was seen as one of the ‘North, benefit claimants and immigrants’. His remarks are the most serious internal criticism of Mr Miliband since he became Labour leader last September. They reflect growing anxiety among a rump of Blairite MPs that he is appealing only to core voters, rather than reaching out to swing voters who will decide the next election. They are calling on Mr Miliband to change his strategy after results in last week’s local elections that were worse than those of Michael Foot – Labour’s least successful leader ever. Mr Lewis said the elections showed that so-called ‘squeezed middle’ voters were not yet returning to the Labour fold. In a provocative speech to the modernising group Progress last night, Mr Lewis warned that southern voters see Labour as standing up for other people. – Daily Mail

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