Has the Labour Party lost the will to win?

[UndercoverElephant]

I don't think the majority of the cabinet actually want to win the election anymore. I think if they did, then Gordon Brown would have been replaced by now. They know perfectly well that the public don't think he is up to the job of PM, but they also know that whoever is in charge after the next election is going to have to make a whole series of really difficult and unpopular decisions. If you were David Milliband, would you want to see Gordon Brown removed right now? I don't think so. I'd think I'd prefer a term as leader of the opposition first...

I think this is shaping up to be the most interesting election I've voted in. An encumbent labour party with an unelected PM not up to the job, a tory party which hasn't sorted out its European problem and is still unelectable in Scotland and Wales, a liberal democrat party that doesn't know why it exists anymore and an SNP administration north of the border which is up for re-election just after the general election and is planning on holding an independence referendum in the sliver of time inbetween.

The strange thing is...you'd think the election campaigns would have already kicked off, but it doesn't feel like they have. Nobody appears to have worked out what they are actually going to offer the electorate.

[RenewableCandy]

It's like that wonderful repartee from Yes Minister...


Hacker "They're all playing pass-the-parcel!"
Sir Humphrey "Who can blame them, when they can hear it ticking...?"

[kenneal - lagger]

Labour don't want to say what they will have to do because it would be a tacit admission that they've "cocked it up" over the last ten or twelve years.

The Tories also don't want to scare the electorate away because they know what they have to do to try get over the mess we are in.

The LibDems haven't made up their minds who they will make pay for the mess we are in and are succeeding in scaring off both ends of the spectrum as a result.

Anyone with half a brain knows that we are stuffed for a long time to come no matter who gets in. We've started planting for next year already and will be planting more asap next spring. We won't need it all but at least we will have something to sell or barter.

[UndercoverElephant]

Well, it looks like Squeaky Osbourne has announced some cuts. They were big enough to cause serious political consequences, but they are a drop in the ocean compared to what is required.

Should be interesting to see how the labour party responds: "I'll see your public sector wage freeze and raise you an inheritance tax freeze."

Somebody has to start talking about taxes rising. I wonder if either lot actually have the guts to do so?

[Quintus]

Well, it looks like Squeaky Osbourne has announced some cuts. They were big enough to cause serious political consequences, but they are a drop in the ocean compared to what is required.

This article in the Telegraph today seems to agreee with you. It thinks the cuts are just one-tenth of what they'll eventually need to be.

But these do not go nearly far enough. Even on his optimistic forecasts for the economy, public borrowing is still expected to be close to £100 billion a year in five years’ time, and it could easily be a lot higher. Against that figure, Mr Osborne’s extra £7 billion annual saving is not just small fry, it’s close to negligible. Of course, there are reasons why whichever party presides over the great squeeze should not do too much too soon. Slamming the fiscal brakes on too hard before the economic recovery has become fully established could push us back into recession, with counterproductive effects on the public finances.

Nonetheless, it is clear that much more action - in the form of deeper cuts in public spending and/or further tax hikes - will be needed to move the public finances back towards a sustainable position in an acceptable timeframe. My guess is that the squeeze will eventually amount to some £70 billion per annum or more, ten times what Mr Osborne announced yesterday.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/econ ... lysis.html

[kenneal - lagger]

Before the election no party is going to tell us the full extent of their proposed cuts or the tax rises on the basis that you can afford to alienate some of your potential voters but not all of them.

The Labour party is trying to tease as much out of the Tories as it can to alienate as many people as possible.

[Ludwig]

I don't think the majority of the cabinet actually want to win the election anymore. I think if they did, then Gordon Brown would have been replaced by now. They know perfectly well that the public don't think he is up to the job of PM, but they also know that whoever is in charge after the next election is going to have to make a whole series of really difficult and unpopular decisions. If you were David Milliband, would you want to see Gordon Brown removed right now? I don't think so. I'd think I'd prefer a term as leader of the opposition first...

I think this is shaping up to be the most interesting election I've voted in. An encumbent labour party with an unelected PM not up to the job, a tory party which hasn't sorted out its European problem and is still unelectable in Scotland and Wales, a liberal democrat party that doesn't know why it exists anymore and an SNP administration north of the border which is up for re-election just after the general election and is planning on holding an independence referendum in the sliver of time inbetween.

The strange thing is...you'd think the election campaigns would have already kicked off, but it doesn't feel like they have. Nobody appears to have worked out what they are actually going to offer the electorate.

I actually think it will be the most boring election I have ever voted in!

For the first time, I don't think it will make any real difference who wins. The problems we face transcend party political ideologies. The challenges will be keeping public order, and keeping people fed.

Of course, all the pre-election rhetoric will be about fixing the economy, and that of course will be so much hot air.

Labour don't want to win, just as the Tories didn't want to win in 1992 (although that didn't stop them from winning!). Labour have run out of ideas (not that their ideas were any good in the first place, but they had some) and are tired and demoralised.

That said, I'm not sure the Tories want to win either. What a mess to inherit!

Look at what's happened in America: nothing has really changed, despite the fact that, in better times, and less hindered by the military-industrial complex, Obama could have been the most inspiring of all American presidents.