Settlement in full?
Nobody really wants a referendum on the European Union. The Eurosceptics do not want a referendum; they want to leave, and that is unlikely to happen. The Europhiles do not want a referendum; they want the United Kingdom Independence party to pipe down, and that is not going to happen, either. Ed Miliband does not want a referendum, either, so, quite sensibly and rightly, he is not calling for one. There are many arguments for an in-out referendum, and all of them are silly. There is the ‘final settlement’: that a referendum on the EU would end the debate. But the nature of life is that a settlement is something you have until someone else disagrees, which usually takes no longer than five minutes. Elizabeth I thought that she had reached a ‘final settlement’ in the relationship between the government and the individual, in 1559. There are many odd views about the relationship between the state and the self today, the vast majority of them in the Tory party, but you would have to travel pretty far and talk to some very strange people to find anyone who still thought that the Tudors had it right.
Posted by Stephen Bush on 21 May 2013
The Campaign for a Labour Majority
The best manifestos reflect what Harold Wilson liked to call ‘purpose’: a Labour party that knows where it wants to go, and how a Labour government would get there, and can explain it. They have a core theme and policies that cohere around it and are not, as Herbert Morrison described the left’s early 1950s obsession with creating an ever-longer list of industries to nationalise, simply a ‘shopping list’. Labour’s 1945 manifesto promised ‘social provision against rainy days, coupled with economic policies calculated to reduce rainy days to a minimum’. To voters, it made sense. Morrison suggested: ‘When contemplating ventures and shaping policies, [a Labour politician] must ask himself the question: will it find an echo in the minds and hearts of the people?’
Posted by Greg Rosen on 10 May 2013
Today Warwickshire represents a UK version of Ohio – not too big, sometimes too easily ignored between elections, but crucial come 2015. Labour gains across the county and, to the west, in nearby Redditch, signified Labour’s return as a party of national significance in 1997. That is what makes Progress’ Campaign for a Labour Majority so important. Ignoring the usual antagonists, the party is right to be ambitious for its target seats. Frankly, it needs to be. After the decimation of 2010 Labour simply does not exist in vast swaths of the country. And even in its former parliamentary seats the Labour vote is greatly reduced and, in some extreme cases, the party has even sunk to third. The historical omens for the party are not good, which places yet more weight on a collective party effort to heave the party from scepticism to assurance that a Labour majority is all but secure.
Posted by David Talbot on 13 May 2013
Keep East Coast public
Recent experience of East Coast has shown that a public operator can be as successful – if not more so – than a private one. New faster services, improved punctuality, high customer satisfaction, and a concerted effort to attract business customers have all been delivered. And this has been achieved without any shareholders to pay, allowing all £640m of profits from the last four years to be returned to the Treasury. Tory ministers, embarrassed about the success of a publicly operated railway, are attempting to undermine Labour’s plans to keep East Coast public. Following the West Coast debacle, their new franchising timetable sees the reprivatisation of East Coast brought forward to February 2015 – three months before the next general election. I have started a campaign against the plans, and hope to secure a debate in the new parliamentary session.
Posted by Sheila Gilmore MP on 7 May 2013
Upping our game
We cannot afford to be equivocal about our economic policy. We need to be more upfront with the public about our intentions. Yes, we will borrow more in the short term in order to generate the growth that will reduce borrowing in the medium term. It makes sense to do so with interest rates so low. We will borrow to invest in new homes, in major infrastructure projects, refurbishing schools, creating employment. Schemes that will stimulate the economy. But we will nevertheless run a tight fiscal regime. The Tories are trying to cut their way out of the recession. We need to be clear we would grow our way out of it, a less painful and ultimately more successful approach. We need to make this case with confidence and defend it robustly. I am confident Labour can win the economic argument if Ed Miliband has the support of a loyal team around him. It is important that all members of the shadow cabinet play their full role in explaining and defending Labour’s policy and approach. Labour’s Treasury team need to get out on the stump now and work even harder. It should not just be left to Ed and Harriet Harman to carry the heavy load, whether on the World at One, the Today Programme or anywhere else. Victory in 2015 is in our grasp, and we have made great strides towards it under Ed’s leadership so far. But ‘one more heave’ will not deliver a majority. We need to up our game.
Posted by Peter Hain MP on 8 May 2013
Weathering climate change
We should put climate change at the forefront of a ‘One Nation’ foreign policy. Under Labour, Britain led the world with the Stern review and consensus-building ahead of numerous climate summits. The coalition chose instead to place trade at the centre of UK diplomacy and treat climate change as a domestic issue. We should pledge to return Britain to its rightful role as a thought-leader and convening power at the centre of international efforts. We owe it to the British people to make sure that short-term political imperatives do not distract us from the vital task of safeguarding our way of life.
Posted by Greg Falconer on 15 May 2013