Labour Party/government Watch

[UndercoverElephant]

Here's a plan.

Growth not austerity – with a national investment bank to help create tomorrow's jobs and reduce the deficit fairly. Fair taxes for all - let the broadest shoulders bear the biggest burden to balance the books.

A lower welfare bill through investment and growth not squeezing the least well-off and cuts to child tax credits.

Action on climate change - for the long-term interest of the planet rather than the short-term interests of corporate profits.

Public ownership of railways and in the energy sector - privatisation has put profits before people.

Decent homes for all in public and private sectors by 2025 through a big housebuilding programme and controlling rents.

No more illegal wars, a foreign policy that prioritises justice and assistance. Replacing Trident not with a new generation of nuclear weapons but jobs that retain the communities’ skills.

Fully-funded NHS, integrated with social care, with an end to privatisation in health.

Protection at work – no zero hours contracts, strong collective bargaining to stamp out workplace injustice.

Equality for all – a society that accepts no barriers to everyone’s talents and contribution. An end to scapegoating of migrants.

A life-long national education service for decent skills and opportunities throughout our lives: universal childcare, abolishing student fees and restoring grants, and funding adult skills training throughout our lives.

Of course it should start with degrowth rather than growth, but that's an argument for a later day.

I see. So in the other thread you are calling for mass immigration in order to keep an unsustainable capitalist economic system on "growth life support" for a bit longer, and in this thread you are quoting a socialist, anti-capitalist agenda founded on creating a new sort of growth, while saying "of course, it should start with de-growth."

Do you know what the words "coherent", "consistent" and "credible" mean, Biff?

[Snail]

I hope normal people retake control of the labour party. But if Corbyn doesn't win, I worry that the gap between grassroots and labour mps will be intentionally widened to stop a similar Corbyn-event happening in the future. This could be the last chance for real-labour.

[biffvernon]

So in the other thread you are calling for mass immigration in order to keep an unsustainable capitalist economic system on "growth life support" for a bit longer,

No I didn't! I merely quoted Paul Mason pointing out that the OECD had pointed out that migration would be required for its growth scenario. (A scenario that Mason goes on to show won't happen.)

But sticking to this thread here, Corbyn and the rest of us have an interesting question to deal with regarding growth. Given the state of public understanding it's rather difficult for someone who wants to win a major party leadership election to say that growth is a bad thing, but once in a leadership position it may be possible to do some leading. Don't worry, I won't be holding my breath. Degrowth will probably be forced upon us rather than promoted by government. I wrote about some aspects of the issue recently: http://biffvernon.blogspot.co.uk/2015/0 ... rd-in.html

[biffvernon]

Meanwhile, Molly Scott-Cato weighs in from the Green corner...

http://www.politics.co.uk/comment-analy ... jeremy-cor

[biffvernon]

Letter in the Guardian signed by a range of academics and experts in the field supporting Jeremy Corbyn for leader of the Labour Party, including Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson, authors of 'The Spirit Level':

"This is a moment of opportunity for the Labour party and the country. A new movement is emerging in British politics; party membership is growing rapidly, particularly among young people who had increasingly given up on politics and politicians. There is a possibility that academics who have always felt that their research – whether on social policy, public health, economics, sociology or other disciplines – was ignored by policymakers may now be more in tune with the leadership of the Labour party. And rather than a backward-looking “old Labour” approach to politics, this is about recognising the inspiring possibilities for a fairer and more equal society offered by an information economy in an interdependent world. We endorse Jeremy Corbyn’s candidature for leadership of the Labour Party".

Richard Wilkinson Emeritus professor, University of Nottingham
Kate Pickett Professor, University of York
Steve Keen Professor, Kingston University
Elizabeth Dore Emeritus professor, University of Southampton
John Weeks Emeritus professor, Soas, University of London
Prem Sikka Professor, University of Essex
Alfredo Saad Filho Professor, Soas, University of London
Guy Standing Professor, Soas, University of London
Ozlem Onaran Professor, University of Greenwich
Christopher Cramer Professor, Soas, University of London
Jeff Powell Senior lecturer, University of Greenwich
Christine Cooper Professor, University of Strathclyde
Lawrence King Professor, University of Cambridge
Marjorie Mayo Emeritus professor, Goldsmiths, University of London
Hugo Radice Life fellow, University of Leeds
Susan Newman Senior lecturer, University of the West of England
Elizabeth Wilson Professor emeritus, London Metropolitan University
Malcolm Sawyer Emeritus professor, University of Leeds
Jo Michell Senior lecturer, University of the West of England
Susan Himmelweit Emeritus professor, Open University
Simon Mohun Emeritus professor, Queen Mary, University of London
Diane Reay Professor, University of Cambridge
Andrew Cumbers Professor, Glasgow University
Simon Deakin Professor, University of Cambridge
Roger Seifert Professor, University of Wolverhampton
George Irvin Professor, Soas, University of London
Engelbert Stockhammer Professor of economics, Kingston University

[UndercoverElephant]

I remain hopeful that following a Corbyn win, there will be a sharp upturn in Labour's performance first in the polls, and subsequently in by-elections. Corbyn will be very vulnerable if Labour looks like it is bombing with him as leader, but if Labour is obviously doing well in terms of public support then his critics will look a bit stupid if they try to bring him down. I mean can you imagine it...."Corbyn has boosted our poll rating by 10% and we keep winning by-elections. He's unelectable! He has to go!"

[johnhemming2]

I met some Labour voters today who will not vote for the party if it is led by Jeremy Corbyn.

[fuzzy]

Why?

[clv101]

Blair was leader for less than 3 years before winning the election in 1997.

There's plenty of time for Corbyn to become leader next month - pull the party in a new direction, motivate the grassroots... before standing aside for someone with wider appeal to contest the 2020 election.

Equally, there's plenty of time for Corbyn to become leader, for it to be a complete disaster and for someone else to take over in time for 2020.

I don't think people's opinions on his relative electability in 2020 are really that important at this stage.

[peaceful_life]

Blair was leader for less than 3 years before winning the election in 1997.

There's plenty of time for Corbyn to become leader next month - pull the party in a new direction, motivate the grassroots... before standing aside for someone with wider appeal to contest the 2020 election.

Equally, there's plenty of time for Corbyn to become leader, for it to be a complete disaster and for someone else to take over in time for 2020.

I don't think people's opinions on his relative electability in 2020 are really that important at this stage.

30 years of being consistently voted in as a MP indicates his appeal & electability isn't a issue. His popularity is growing.

[peaceful_life]

'Moreover, the chimera of 'growth' has become the left's way of not having to get serious about redistribution, and about aiming for equality. This is the dirty secret of growthism: it's a substitute for egalitarianism'


http://www.theecologist.org/blogs_and_c ... erent.html

[biffvernon]

Corbyn has as much chance of becoming Prime Minister as the SNP have of getting 56 MPs. Oh, hang on...

[UndercoverElephant]

I met some Labour voters today who will not vote for the party if it is led by Jeremy Corbyn.

Were they called "Liz Kendall" and "Yvette Cooper"?

[johnhemming2]

not members of the Labour Party nor voters in the Labour leadership election.

[raspberry-blower]

Interesting article by Craig Murray: Why Jeremy Corbyn is Terrifying the London Elite

The sheer panic gripping the London elite now is hilarious to behold. Those on the favoured side of Britain’s enormous wealth gap are terrified by the idea that there may be a genuine electoral challenge to neo-liberalism, embodied in one of the main party structures. This is especially terrifying to those who became wealthy by hijacking the representation of the working class to the neo-liberal cause.

The fundamental anti-democracy of the Blairites is plainly exposed, and the panic-driven hysterical hate-fest campaign against Corbyn by the Guardian would be unbelievable, if we hadn’t just seen exactly the same campaign by the same paper against the rejection of neo-liberalism in Scotland.

I think I am entitled to say I told you so. Many people appear shocked to have discovered the Guardian is so anti-left wing. I have been explaining this in detail for years. It is good to feel vindicated, and even better that the people I have repeatedly shared platforms with, like Jeremy and Mhairi, are suddenly able to have the genuinely popular case they make listened to. Do I feel a little left behind, personally? Probably, but I would claim to have contributed a little to the mood, and particularly my article on the manufactured myth that the left is unelectable has been extremely widely shared – by hundreds of thousands – in the social media storm that is propelling the Corbyn campaign.