There are honestly-held differences of opinion in the party about whether it was right for Hazel Blears and James Purnell to resign in the way they did this week. But one thing we can’t lose as a party is the direction of travel both politicians embody. Blear’s commitment to wresting power from the state and to the people has become a battleground for all three parties and should form the beating heart of Labour’s ambitions for the country over the coming months. During his time at the DWP James Purnell has ensured that Labour does everything it can to get people into work in spite of the recession to beat poverty. Though they have left Cabinet, it would be a mistake to row back on these programmes of reform – they provide the basis for a way out of the crises we face.
It is rumoured that the Prime Minister will announce plans next week to seize back the domestic agenda. This would be a welcome move, but this is not the time for a welter of initiatives, policies designed to buy-off certain parts of the electorate or simply a repackaging of existing policies. We need to see a strong sense of direction, conviction and swift decision-making from our leadership – this is our last chance to make the case for why Labour should remain in government until next year, and to build towards our plans for a fourth term. So what should we use the time we have to do? There are three concrete areas which we think could help Labour start its journey back to being the party which best represents the hopes and aspirations of the British people.
First, we need to renew our commitment to ending child poverty, but it can’t simply be through further redistribution, important though that is. It must be through bolstering the support that we give to parents. Too many families, particularly lone parents, struggle with balancing work and their caring responsibilities. Our focus on getting mothers back into work is the right one, but without a system of universal childcare it won’t work. The money is tight, but by starting with scrapping the almost universally disliked plan for ID cards, we could find the funds to pay for it.
Second, we should cut 25% of the revenue received by Whitehall and some quangos and relocate the money and responsibilities to local government and directly elected mayors where appropriate. We have written before about the need to translate warm words on localism into action, and after what looks to be a very poor showing at the local elections, this could be the time to be brave and put our trust in local democracy to take forward the next stage of public service reform. We will have to accept that there will be a postcode lottery to some extent, but if we argue for a high minimum floor of provision, we can ensure that the debate doesn’t become a fruitless exercise in merely exposing differences across authorities, but debating which policies actually work.
Third, we should use the fact that the arcane workings of our democracy and Parliament have gripped the public and media by finishing the constitutional reform we have pledged over the last three elections. There is a good case for holding a referendum on proportional voting on the day of the next election, and we must finally move to a Parliament which we can properly call democratic by electing the House of Lords. Progress is also campaigning for a Citizens’ Convention to look at issues which range far wider than PR and the upper house, but reaching decisions on these two would pave the way for a more progressive politics in this country.
Labour activists and supporters will be rightly despondent at the events of the last few weeks and the election results. But with the right leadership and sense of direction, there is still time for us to pull together to keep the Tories out of Downing Street.
Blears and Purnell were wrong.
I don’t think it’s right to skate over the damage that they have done to our government.
Hazel may have felt hard done-by but resigning as she did in such a petulant manner the day before important elections was quite unforgivable. James at least had the decency to leave his resignation to moments before the polls closed but the manner of his departure (without telling his Cabinet colleagues beforehand and providing an exclusive to the anti- Labour Times, was equally inexcusable.
Both have given the impression the impression of a government in meltdown, to the delight of the media and our opponents. Just when we need maximum unity to see us through one of the most difficult periods any government has had to face they have chosen to break ranks in a highly reprehensible way..
In Hazel’s case it looks very much like she jumped before she was pushed, no doubt to deflect attention from her expenses misdemeanours. James appears to have simply lost his nerve, perhaps swayed by that infamous Guardian editorial.
Their actions might possibly be defensible if there was an obvious alternative to Gordon Brown’s leadership and evidence that the alternative was likely to do better in a General Election. But there is no such alternative and no such evidence. Indeed common sense dictates that a change of leadership at this time can only make matters worse. Not only would the captain be seen to be away from the tiller while the ship is making its way through the perilous rocks of recession but the resulting acceleration of the General Election would mean this government being judged before its remedial measures have been given time to work.
So whichever way you look at it our two patrons do not really have a leg to stand on. This Progress member, at least, is appalled by what they have done.
I am proud to have voted Labour in the European elections but I am so angry with Hazel Blears MP and James Purnell MP and their disloyality and lack of consideration of how their behaviour effects hard working Councillors and MEPs who thanks to them will be losing their seats and activists like me who have been leafleting on my own in Milton Keynes using my annual leave now for nothing.
I will for one will continue to vote Labour and be a party member but until cabinet and ex cabinet members can work together and be loyal it pains me to say this but I will be considering whether I will be active between now and the general election I am so depressed and upset that twelve years of a Labour Government that has transformed the the public services , created a strong econonmy
helped hard working working families that all this is at risk with the possiblity of a Conservative Government I feel us activists are being taken as mugs due to the MPs behaviour in the Westminster village so I say to them grow up work together show some loyality and if you can’t, leave the Labour Party as your actions are damaging the party.
Also a by election in Norwich this is all The Labour Party needs well done Dr Ian Gibson!
Direction, conviction and purpose are laudable aims, but what do these words mean? Although some policy prescriptions have been mapped out in the editorial above, this is still fiddling about on the fringes. If we simply want to redistribute the cash spent on ID cards on some other policy initiative then most people will say the Lib Dems are a more credible consistent advocate of this policy. Cutting some quangos and redistributing that cash to local politicians may well be laudable, but most people will not experience any differences to their lives certainly in the short term to be able to say that policy achieved something worthwhile. I have a greater interest in the third prescription of constitutional reform, but I doubt we have the time left in Government to enact substantial change to democratise the Lords (they’ll delay it) or obtain cross party agreement for PR for the Commons. Another problem is that people are unconcerned about constitutional reform, in fact to the politically disinterested British public, constitutional reform (however necessary) looks like navel gazing – a political elite looking inwards at a time of national uncertainty. The public just wants a fair and transparent expenses regime for Parliamentarians, nothing more.
What might we do instead. I think we do need a New Deal public works programme for the unemployed and not just some revamped 1980’s Community Enterprise scheme for targeted individuals or age groups. People with mortgages to pay should be entitled to full cover during this period of economic downturn (for a specified period of 18 months I would suggest). Private or public renting tenants do receive full Housing Benefit cover and always have. When people rerturn to work and resume their mortgage payments and subsequently sell their homes any monies claimed on the public purse could be recouped at the point of sale. It seems to me these two initiatives although expensive would help people feel more secure and give them hope and structure. I think also we could make a start on both of these policies now and begin to see some tangible results before a general election. To promote these policies can I suggest that Caroline Flint or James Purnell (or both) seek a party leadership mandate to promote and enact these two policies between now and the next general election.