Labour Puzzles Potential Voters about their Intent 

People everywhere reject the Bankers’ Politics of neoliberalism and look to a future of People’s Politics and a kinder and fairer society, where people matter not bankers’ vaults and spreadsheets.  People around Britain are looking for a party which really means change, and yet some are puzzled by some in the Labour Party and are hearing mixed messages from the Party. The electorate knows what the government needs to do, so why are Labour holding back? Is it the old chestnut of fear of the Press? Is Labour aiming for Aneurin Bevan’s Socialist Ideal, or will the Party settle for a Cosy Consensus?  Speak up, take courage, Labour  and push  towards a “Courageous State!”

Everyone needs a society where children can grow up in homes, attend good schools, have health care and look to full employment.

Ed Miliband and the party must show the voters that they reject the austerity which is bringing poverty to people, and that they will be strong in opposing the parasitic, cancerous invasion of a very rich, very tiny minority of profiteers who care nothing for people’s welfare, equality or human rights.

2015 will be the biggest opportunity in seventy years for Labour, and the clock is ticking. People will come out and vote for Labour, but the electorate need convincing and it is up to Labour to speak loudly and clearly – and to present polices that will bring about real change. Many ex-Labour voters will remember how we cheered in 1997 as eighteen years of a callous,  vicious, destructive Conservative government came to an end. Many also remember how the cheering went chillingly quiet as they witnessed  a betrayal by the “New Labour”  government which continued to support a free-for-all smash-and-grab neoliberalism which Thatcher had deceptively introduced, and along with the US and Tory support led to war in Iraq. Their Party had been kidnapped.

Ed Miliband has attacked the previous Labour government and said they did not do enough for ordinary people.

He said that New Labour was “too timid in enforcing rights and responsibilities, especially at the top, and it was too sanguine about the consequences of the rampant free markets”.

He said: “By the time we left office too many of people of Britain didn’t feel as if the Labour party was open to their influence, or listening to them,” Miliband said.

“For me, the most obvious example is immigration. I bow to nobody in my celebration of the multi-ethnic, diverse nature of Britain. But high levels of migration were having huge effects on the lives of people in Britain – and too often those in power seemed not to accept this.

“The fact that they didn’t explains partly why people turned against us in the last general election.

“We have to move on from New Labour, as well as from this Government.”

Miliband told the event in central London that if Labour wins the next general election it would have to find ways of achieving change while tackling a lingering deficit.

“One Nation Labour has learnt the lessons of the financial crisis. It begins from the truth that New Labour did not do enough to bring about structural change in our economy to make it work for the many, not just the few. It did not do enough to change the rules of the game that were holding our economy back.”

He said,” “We cannot have two nations divided between those who own their own homes and those who rent,” Miliband said.

“Most people who rent have responsible landlords and rental agencies. But there are too many rogue landlords and agencies either providing accommodation which is unfit or ripping off their tenants. And too many families face the doubt of a two-month notice period before being evicted.” This is very  good to hear, and is a start. It gives hope to many.

It’s not as if the country supports this government, its austerity, or ever did. The Tories knew this which is why they pushed through their first legislation for a fixed term parliament  ensuring the success of the hatchet-plan of total destruction of  the welfare state in one single term of office. In 2010, the Tories failed in their attempt to gain a majority, and many left-leaning-liberal-voters, many of them ex-Labour voters, felt doubly-betrayed as an opportunist Liberal Democrat Party propped up a government  which turned out to be even more right-wing and reactionary than Thatcher’s.

It’s not what the electorate voted for or wanted at all, so unsurprisingly  we have seen angry protests  and “Occupy”  Movements, unions taking industrial action and anger from people who have never been politically active before. Labour must stand firm against this government, and speak loudly and clearly.

The electorate also needs to believe that a future Labour government will be strong, not timid, and not buckle to the press. The electorate needs to know that Labour will bring about economic changes which will bring about a real redistribution of wealth, by tackling tax law and injustice. The electorate needs to know that it can depend on Labour bringing energy, water and transport back into democratic ownership and control.

The electorate needs to know Labour means what it says and says what it means.  Why are we receiving mixed messages from the Labour party? Why, this week have some ( exclusions here) supported the government’s Workfare programme? Quite rightly, potential voters remain puzzled about what and who Labour represents, and they will withhold their trust and confidence in a party where Blairite vestiges still remain. Stronger, clearer messages from Labour is what the electorate is hungry for. If Labour can’t do that, the voters will look elsewhere and the greatest opportunity for socialism in seventy years will be lost to theorists.  That would be a betrayal which will never, ever, be forgiven.

• LABOUR – First and foremost, Labour must be honest about the deficit –  and  expose the lies!  Of all the lies, none is bigger than the suggestion that the national debt is the highest ever. 
• Deliberate confusion is created regarding the difference between national debt and deficit. Lies about privatization of the services such as NHS, education and even the police. Lies that cuts are necessary, that we are all in it together, while the rich accrue obscene wealth while trampling on the death and decay they have created. Democracy around the world is held in hostage. US lobbyists are even infiltrating the elections of police commissioners (Telegraph report)  , and many MPs hold contacts with financiers (Britain Under Siege, Think Left) . Power snatched from the people is held by the very rich and echoes the Middle Ages, a neofeudalism . The corporations control think-tanks  which decide policy, and hide their identities. Was this the intention of those who fought for the vote, for workers’ rights, and for equality?

• LABOUR – in the words of Tony Benn, “Say what you mean and mean what you say! ”  

STRAIGHT-TALKING LABOUR NEEDS TO:

Confident, courageous and compassionate, Labour must seek to pursue the policies which will change our world.

We call upon Labour to:

1. BE TRUTHFUL ABOUT THE STRUCTURAL DEFICIT AND NATONAL DEBT.a) Structural deficit & Libor . b) The Fundamental deceit of ‘”There’s no money left.” 
2. CONFRONT THE PARASITIC BANKING COMMUNITY Monetise or rip up the £375bn debt they’ve bought back by QE and reduce the national debt of the UK with the stroke of a key. a) Simon says: QE is the biggest confidence trick of all time  b) What is George Osborne playing at?  c) The IMF and Taking the Red Pill, Think Left 
3. SPLIT RETAIL AND INVESTMENT BANKS PROPERLY
4. REGAIN SOVEREIGN CONTROL OVER MONEY SUPPLY How debt leads to financial servitude 
5. TACKLE TAX JUSTICE ONCE AND FOR ALL.
6. WORK FOR FULL EMPLOYMENT for those that can work, maintaining a safety net for those who cannot.
7. ENSURE A LIVING WAGE FOR ALL WORKERS
8. FORMULATE A NEW GREEN DEAL, and EXPANSION OF RENEWABLES
9. STOP SUBSIDIES OF FOSSIL FUELS AND NUCLEAR POWER
10. REVERSE PRIVATISATION OF THE NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE
11. NATIONALISE UTILITIES, (including ENERGY  and WATER.  )
12. NATIONALISE RAILWAYS  and REVOLUTIONISE PUBLIC TRANSPORT.
13. BUILD HOMES FOR ALL
14. PROVIDE AFFORDABLE CHILDCARE  – and reinstate SURESTART
15. INTRODUCE A TRULY COMPREHENSIVE National Education Service  , and LIFELONG LEARNING
16. PROTECT the WORK LIFE BALANCE, and ENSURE FLEXIBLE WORKING
17. PROVIDE DIGNIFIED CARE FOR THE ELDERLY
18. REVERSE THE CUTS ON THE VULNERABLE, SICK AND DISABLED
19. REBUILD OUR COMMUNITIES, libraries, youth services, sports facilities, high streets and local co-ops.
20. MAKE THE COURAGEOUS STATE  A REALITY.

1. Aneurin Bevan’s Socialist Ideal, or the Cosy Consensus? 
2. Richard Murphy: The Cowardly State is in Disarray, we need a Courageous Alternative
3. Osborne and Cameron’s Big Deficit Myth
4. Huffington Post Ed Miliband attacks New Labour – 
5. The Fundamental Deceit of “there’s no money left”
6. Parliament of the People
7. Straight Talking Labour
8. Owen Jones: Independent: Workfare Why did so many Labour MPs accept this brutal, unforgivable attack on vulnerable people?
9. Left Futures: What was Liam Byrne playing at?