From redistribution to predistribution
If Ed Miliband is right – and I believe he is – that 2008 represents a 1945 or 1979 moment, when the hegemonic political economic order collapses in the face of new challenges, then the Labour party too must change. Old answers will not be enough and the truth is that we face an almighty intellectual crisis. Our dominant ‘Croslandite’ political economy, of acquiescing to market outcomes in exchange for redistributing the proceeds of its ‘perpetual growth’, has run its course, unable to answer the question ‘how do we change society in a restricted economic environment?’ To convince the electorate we have an answer to that question will not be easy. And, of course, ‘predistribution’ is not a doorstep-friendly phrase. Yet in committing to it, Miliband has shown that the party is ready to begin that difficult journey.
Posted by Tristram Hunt MP on 14 September 2012
Universal discredit
What the universal credit reveals is that this is a government that simply does not understand the realities of most ordinary people’s lives. They want to move all benefit applications onto the internet, which is eminently reasonable if you think an ‘IT skills crisis’ is what happens when your iPad doesn’t have JavaScript enabled. I would venture to suggest that if it has not occurred to you that not everyone has ready access to the internet then you are not a fit and proper person to set welfare policy. In a move that Citizens Advice estimates would put yet further pressure on the wallets of the low-paid, the universal credit will be paid monthly, not weekly. The government believes that this will better simulate the pattern of paid work. Platitudes about self-reliance and responsibility trip easily from the mouths of people who have apparently never had a paper round, worked in a bar, or done even the briefest of summer jobs, all of which would have meant they would not have been blindsided by the revelation that most low-paying work is, in fact, paid weekly or fortnightly.
Posted by Stephen Bush on 11 September 2012
Education, education, education
Andrew Adonis’ recently published book, Education, Education, Education, is a must-read for anyone interested in education or how to drive through public service reform. The book is partly the story of how the policy of academies was not just devised, but also delivered. It is worth reflecting on what it tells us about the rationale for Labour’s academy programme and to test this against current policy. For Labour, academies’ first aim was to improve the performance of the schools with the lowest standards – schools which Adonis identifies as ‘secondary modern comprehensives’. The ambition was to transform the whole system, but to focus first on the young people who most needed the benefits of reform.
Posted by Jacqui Smith on 17 September 2012
If the coalition cannot rise above playing politics with our young people’s future, Labour must show it can. It must seek to build a wide-ranging consensus between the teaching profession, educationalists and business for its own 14-19 reforms as part of its policy review, paying heed to some basic principles. First, both our academic and vocational qualifications must be fit for purpose – this must mean reform of the current alphabet soup of vocational qualifications into a ‘gold standard’ that can sit beside its A level equivalent. Second, there should be robust functional qualifications in core skills like maths and writing that young people must do as a minimum before they leave full-time education at 18. Third, young people should be able to make a meaningful choice about what type of path they follow from an age younger than 16, but it should never be an irreversible one.
Posted by Sonia Sodha on 20 September 2012
Schools could use pupil premium data to reach out to disadvantaged families, identifying in partnership with parents any extra support needs that they or their children may need to ensure improved outcomes for young carers and other vulnerable pupils. Labour’s frontbench team could push for an amendment to the children and families bill to place a duty on schools and colleges to identify vulnerable young carers. Labour teachers, councillors and governors could champion young carers in schools, leading work to develop support locally especially as research shows that just 38 per cent of local authorities in England have young carers strategies.
Posted by Anthony McCaul on 10 September 2012
Southern discomfort and Scotland
Labour in Scotland has a vested interest in Labour starting to win in the south: the 2014 separation referendum could turn on the perception of how well Labour is doing in the south and therefore the likelihood of a Labour government in 2015. In the language of Scottish politics, ‘Westminster’ and ‘Tory’ are too often virtually interchangeable terms. Just look, says Alex Salmond, at what is happening at Westminster – the NHS being destroyed, people with disabilities losing benefits, millionaires being given tax cuts. The message is that if you want to be protected vote ‘yes’ to independence.
Posted by Sheila Gilmore MP on 12 September 2012
Time to join the euro?
What happened to €urogeddon? If you were to believe the collective hysteria of the UK media, then surely the euro should have collapsed by now, or at least been subject to a few ignominious exits. Those of us who pointed out there was little prospect of that were lone voices. It was ever thus with the British psyche. It does not logically follow that the fact that some European countries have got some economic problems to fix (don’t we all?) means that the single currency is doomed, despite the existence of a substantial vein in British public opinion that would enjoy saying ‘I told you so’. If anything the last few years have shown that Britain is nearer to meeting the original 1997 five economic tests for membership of the euro – things like convergence and investment – than we have ever been. That does not mean that I think political leaders should expend political capital right now trying to convince the public to join. I am just saying it because it is true, and to point out the gulf that exists between economic reality and political discussions, particularly in this country where Europe is concerned.
Posted by Kitty Ussher on 13 September 2012