opposition « Labour Uncut

Posts Tagged ‘opposition’

We need to oppose, as well as to review

28/11/2010, 12:00:05 PM

by Tom Keeley

This weekend Ed Miliband launched a major policy review. Starting with a blank piece of paper, the big thinkers in the party will now take two years coordinating the biggest review of policy since 1994. The party needs it.

The 2010 general election showed a party which had stopped thinking, stopped improving and had little to say. If it had not been for the economic crisis, the dividing lines between us and the Tories would have been slight. When a Labour party can’t state a long list of differences with the Tories, you know there is trouble.

This review needs to put Labour back as the progressive party in this country. A party to ensure that liberty is not at the cost of security. To ensure the poor provision of housing never again fuels racial tensions. A party to champion schools that serve the poorest, health care that heals the sickest and social security that treats the most unfortunate in our society with respect and deference. This will serve the electorate well in two years time. They will have the choice to elect a truly progressive party.

However, the Labour party has a more immediate responsibility. Opposition. While Miliband described opposition as “crap” (and he might be right), it is the most important job in the country at the moment. This government is rolling out the most regressive series of policies and doing it early in the anticipation that the electorate will forget by 2015. Frontline police are being cut. The NHS is being turned upside down. And, soon, teachers will be let go, when the economic independence that came with the academies bill, turns out to be a noose around the necks of the schools.

The press will report numbers: the manpower lost, the waiting lists and the crime stats. But the Labour party should remember that this is about people’s lives. This is about another generation of children growing up in homes where no parent works and young people going to school in classrooms that are falling apart. It is about families breaking under the stress of mortgage repayments and lost incomes; about people dying on the waiting list for cancer treatments. The Labour party has a responsibility to stand up for these lives now, not in two years time. The most important job in the country is the opposition of this government’s policies.

While the policy review is vital for our party, a responsible, rigorous and careful opposition is vital for the country. If we fail to provide this now, the electorate will look back on these years and see an indulgent, introspective party. A party that failed them. Until the policy review is complete, our priority must be coherent and effective opposition.

Tom Keeley is a member of Birmingham Edgbaston CLP.

Posted in Grassroots | 2 Comments »

Protest or power? We can’t have both.

16/11/2010, 10:30:03 AM

by Dan Hodges

My old generalissimo at the GMB, John Edmonds, used to have a nice line on demos. “If we’re going to have a march, lets make sure it’s a public demonstration of our strength, not our weakness”.

Watching the pictures of Millbank Tower being invaded by a hoard of rampaging journalists, the odd student anarchist in tow, I was reminded of those words. In terms of numbers and organization, last Wednesday’s protest was impressive. It has been a while since the unions managed to get 50,000 on the streets in support of a single issue.

Nor did the unfortunate dénouement at Tory HQ appear to undermine public support. A Sunday Times poll found that 65% of those questioned backed the demonstration, an even higher number than opposed the government’s policy on tuition fees. The issue dominated the media, captured the Parliamentary agenda, and energised the movement. A triumph of direct action.

But a counter-productive one. Set aside the violence, indefensible though it was. What was alarming wasn’t the spasm of aggression. Or the lack of awareness of potential damage to a wider cause. It was the sheer enthusiasm. The love of protest. (more…)

Posted in Uncut | 11 Comments »

Battling on in opposition: Tom Watson’s report on ministerial cars

09/08/2010, 07:59:21 PM

Leading anti-government aggressor Tom Watson MP’s latest crop of parliamentary questions is ready for harvest. His efficiency report checks up on the promised reductions to the ministerial car service, something the Tory-Liberal government had crowed would be kept to a minimum.

Ministerial cars have always been hard to defend. And in the age of ostensible governmental austerity they are particularly so. Watson has estimated that if the coalition kept their word on reductions, they could be saving the public £6.2 million a year. But if you go by Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan’s interpretation of ‘we’re all in this together’, one of three cars will be waiting outside your house to take you to work tomorrow (even though poor junior minister David Jones will be getting the bus from now on). (more…)

Posted in Inside | 6 Comments »

Labour renewal must transcend tribes to put voters, not members, first

27/07/2010, 02:15:41 PM

Amid all the “who’s up and who is down” commentary on Labour’s leadership contest, it’s easy to forget that the contest is about selecting a Prime Minister in waiting, not a leader of the opposition. In today’s FT, Philip Stephens argues that if Labour’s defeat had been a little more crushing, our reflections would be more realistic. In today’s Telegraph, Mary Riddell warns against knee-jerk tribalism in opposition and urges Labour to resist retributive instincts that are stopping leadership candidates from agreeing with coalition policies now and again.

The election result surely shows that political tribalism is now dead in the water and that relying on a core vote strategy is ‘ballot box suicide’. But equally unrealistic is an obsession with winning back skilled working class C2s that ignores Labour’s vote share collapsing across all lower social classes. Whoever wins the leadership is going to need to make some big and symbolic repositions to show that Labour has listened, learned and most importantly, changed.

Time is of the essence. Labour had the chance to renew in office but left it too late. By the time the manifesto was published, the frame through which voters judged Labour had already been set. The Tories made the mistake of burning through three leaders before they were prepared to renew their ideas and reposition their offer to voters. We can’t afford to do the same.

(more…)

Posted in Grassroots | No Comments »

Is it because I is forgetful?

21/07/2010, 04:07:45 PM

So, the Electoral Commission have decided to investigate Zac Goldsmith’s election expenses. This follows a Channel 4 investigation into his campaign in Richmond. Goldsmith came onto Channel 4 News to discuss the allegations and had a go at refutation by rant – just like his Dad, the late Sir James Goldsmith.

Maybe he’d have been better off pleading forgetfulness. This morning at Scottish Questions Labour MPs were surprised by a newcomer on the Opposition benches. It was none other than Zac Goldsmith. The Labour MP he was sitting beside tactfully nudged him. Goldsmith looked up, looked around and fled with a horrified look on his face.

Posted in Inside | 1 Comment »

We’re not the story. Get used to it, says Dan Hodges

25/06/2010, 10:28:03 AM

Two chance Westminster meetings this week set me thinking about one of the big tactical problems facing Labour.

The first involved a discussion with two Labour supporting members of the Parliamentary lobby, the elite squadron of registered press hawks who follow politics from an exclusive eyrie in the House of Commons.

From debating great matters of state (why Fabio Capello should persevere with Emile Heskey), the conversation drifted to the merits of their key contacts. Routine enough, except that the names were suddenly unfamiliar. Where once were Charlie, Dugher and Damian, now it was Andy, Gaby and Henry. This was the beltway equivalent of the wrong picture coming into your head when you hear the words “prime minister”. For me, it was almost worse. (more…)

Posted in Uncut | 5 Comments »

The art of opposition: speed kills, seize opportunities, never stop punching

20/06/2010, 02:15:10 PM

Six weeks in, and Tom Watson MP is emerging as the leading anti-government stormtrooper. His latest assault is a series of Parliamentary questions and freedom of information requests, which have forced the government to reveal that it has spent nearly £18,000 on re-stocking the government wine cellar since the election.

The cellars include wine’s most legendary names: Chateau Latour, Chateau Margaux, Chateau Lafite Rothschild and Chateau Haut Brion. Named as “first growths” in the famous classification of 1855, this is the royal family of wine.

Such wine costs a lot to buy. Hundreds of pounds a bottle. Beyond the reach of ordinary people.

Which seems slightly at odds with the age of austerity and us all being in it together. The very week that George Osborne’s axe is set to fall on schools, hospitals and family tax credits. (more…)

Posted in Home | 2 Comments »

Labour must learn to oppose, says Benjamin Wegg-Prosser

27/05/2010, 02:22:59 PM

I did something very strange last week: I read a speech by a Secretary of State (Jeremy Hunt’s first – perfectly good if a little predictable).

I did something odder this morning: I watched the Parliament channel on the iPlayer.

Having been lucky enough to have access to the heart of government at various points over the past 13 years, I had fallen out of the habit of actually reading and watching the business of politics. Having an inside track seemed to give me sense of what was going on without having to do so much of the legwork.

Times have changed. And in changing times following the nitty gritty is essential. The Tories and Liberals are without doubt approaching government in a different way: identifying common ground, being honest about their differences and, if they can keep this going, I suspect making quite an impact on the public. (more…)

Posted in Uncut | 6 Comments »