Dear Mr Miliband…

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Thanks to Alderman Michael Poulter MBE for permission to reprint

 

From: Alderman Michael Poulter MBE

8th January 2014

Mr Ed Miliband MP,
Leader of the Opposition,
House of Commons.
London
SW1AOAA

Dear Mr Miliband,
Osborne’s Deficit Scam – The Excuse to Privatise, Outsource and Dismantle Public Services and the Welfare State

In his New Year Message, the Chancellor again exploits the alleged Deficit Crisis to trumpet a still imperative need for extended austerity and more severe cuts in Public Spending.  In William Keegan’s words (Observer 29.12.2013):

Coalition Ministers still proclaim the ‘Big Lie’ that it was all down to ‘Labour’s Mess’ 

From its inception, the Coalition claimed the National Debt was overwhelmingly large and that it must, therefore, cut public spending and public services dramatically in order to restore the economy to health.

But the Government’s claim is false.  The Deficit Crisis is a fiction and the British Public are being subjected to one of the bigger scams in British history.  There exists an impressively intellectual array of wise, educated and expert advice which tells us so.

Professor Robert Nield of Cambridge University is the foremost historian of the National Debt.  He analysed the Coalition’s claim and in effect rubbished it!  He authoritatively states that for the last three centuries the UK has maintained a National Debt without difficulty.  Much of that debt was higher than when the Coalition took power.  It did not look alarming let alone abnormal!  He says that the application of Government policies, justified by alarmism, is leading into unnecessarily deep recession.
Dr William Keegan ( Cutting welfare to ‘aid recovery’ is just a big lie ), quotes Brian Henry on ‘Coalition’s Economic Strategy’.  His careful analysis of the so-called structural deficit states it was no worse at the end of Labour’s pre-crisis years than it had been under the Conservatives, and that the Coalition seized the opportunity to impose a protracted fiscal contraction with the aim of reducing the Tax Burden.  Dr Keegan recalls John Le Carre’s powerful phrase about Coalition Welfare policy being tantamount to ‘planned penury’.  I think the emphasis here must be on the ‘planned’.

George Osborne and the Reinhard-Rogoff thesis – Before he took office Mr Osborne used this paper as key to his intellectual argument for the austerity programme – ‘Should Public Spending be cut to control deficits or should States pro-actively rekindle economic growth?’   Their deeply argued analysis said Public Spending should be cut!  Mr Osborne suggested that they offered perhaps the most significant contribution to understanding the origin of the financial crisis.  But an authoritative study by Herndon, Ash and Polin found their conclusion was based on faulty maths and spreadsheet error.  The assumptions and calculations (on which Mr Osborne based his policy) did not stand up.  This criticism of Reinhart-Rogoff is also supported by Larry Elliot, an economist of international repute.  The intellectual basis for the Deficit Reduction policy is deeply flawed.

Nobel Prize Winner, Paul Krugman explicitly denounces the Coalition Myth that the Deficit is unmanageable without cuts and great austerity!  He quotes Keynes:

“The Boom not the Slump is the time for austerity”

Robert Skidelsky, foremost commentator on Keynes, also supports the view that Britain’s public debt was far from from crisis point.

Will Hutton, Principal of Hertford College Oxford and public intellectual of great repute, comments:

“..we need Government not to cut but which steps in to halt the plunge in private demand.  We need public investment and job creation to survive as an economy.”

Joseph.E.Stiglitz is a Nobel PrizeWinner and former Chief Economist of the World Bank.  In his book ‘The Price of Inequality‘, he powerfully criticises ‘Deficit Fetishism’ of the kind exhibited by the Coalition and the risks to the Public Good inherent in the advance to Privatisation.  His is a powerful critique of Free Market Ideology.

What conclusion might now be drawn?  On the basis of these expert views the Coalition Policy is a sham!

I go along with John Harris (Guardian ,28.02.2011):

”Coalition has sneaked a coup on a sleeping public”  

He says that what is occurring throughout the Western World is the planned dismantling of Welfare States.  The alleged Deficit Crisis is being used as an excuse (as in Naomi Klein’s ‘The Shock Doctrine’) to shock/persuade people that the Public Sector and the Postwar settlement must be swept away as unaffordable!

Following Polly Toynbee’s excellent article in The Guardian ‘Tory outriders reveal the party’s direction of travel’, I wrote to her quoting the authorities I mention above.  Her immediate and personal response acknowledged their wisdom and suggested that Cameron had intended all this from the outset!

Cameron and Osborne use this ‘fiction’ of an overwhelming budget deficit to justify pre-planned privatisation and cuts in Public Spending (The Politics of Privatisation in Western Europe,1988).
Their cuts of 25-40% are thus causing the dismantling of our universally available Health, Social Service, Community Care, Education Services, Legal Aid as well as Pensions, Retirement and Benefits Provision and entitlement for which fair and proper taxation policies have paid in the past.

At the same time, they impose the headlong drive towards Privatisation and Outsourcing thus threatening not only Health and Education but Prisons, Probation, Policing and Court Services.
They enhance the interests of the large Corporate, Commercial and Financial organisations at the expense of the Public interest and the Public Purse rather than the majority democratic interest of all living in our communities. Cuts in Flood Protection are a recent case in point.

The Deficit Reduction Strategy ( “Lie” as described by William Keegan) underpins the Coalition’s entire political, economic and social/welfare policy.  As described above, it is clearly based on complete misrepresentation designed to mislead and confuse the Electorate and to blame Labour for the damaging policies being forced through.

Labour is thus unfairly and unjustifiably labelled as the cause of a Deficit Crisis which does not actually exist.  A lack of rebuttal seems to encourage the Chancellor and Ministers, in Parliament and out in the country, continuously to make statements about “the financial mess they inherited.”
Everywhere groups of people, in meetings, social gatherings and pubs, friends and acquaintances have all been imbued with the mindset of Deficit Fetishism .

But there are now within the country profound stirrings of support for a concerted challenge to this Coalition Lie.  This resides not only among intellectuals, economists, journalists and the Trades and Labour Movement but nationally and locally among many other people of good will concerned about the impact of this fixation on Deficit Reduction (in part the cause of the Cost of Living Crisis) and about the disastrous and dangerous direction in which the UK is being taken.  Their frustration and alarm could well be mobilised.  Notable among them must be the recent positions taken by both Archbishops, Justin Welby of Canterbury and Vincent Nichols of Westminster; ably supported it must be said by Pope Francis!  The significance of their Faith communities and their range of influence should not be underestimated!

I write this letter to suggest to you that the tide is beginning to change and thus brings a challenging opportunity for Labour.
You have a network of Constituency Parties, MPs, Parliamentary Candidates, Leaders and Councillors , Party Members and their friends within our Counties, Cities, Towns, Villages and Rural communities – all of whom could be mobilised to counter the Coalition Lie and to demolish the mindset of Deficit Fetishism.  Should this mobilisation occur, the ground would be well prepared for a much more healthy and constructive debate about the future direction of our society and the kind of ‘people-based’, democratically- orientated economy – the reconstruction for which so many would vote, in the next General Election.

Yours Sincerely,

Michael Poulter

http://www.michaelpoulter.org.uk

36 thoughts on “Dear Mr Miliband…”

    • nice letter, and indeed I hope that, the tories will realise that, as stated, a change is coming,,,,,i hope that its a big change, and that the people of this country rise up, and show their discust at the way that they are being treated,,,,,bring on the revolution.!!!!!!!! remove the scum from office.

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  4. Pity Miliband can’t read, doesn’t listen and hasn’t got a brain. He must be the most useless labour party leader of all time. Mind you, the ‘team’ he has of Balls, Cooper, Livingstone,and the remainder of the new labour team don’t look good sitting on the front bench. it’s over for labour,who have no credibility, panache or talent. Plus they are NOT INTERESTED in the POOR, the DISABLED, the UNEMPLOYED or the SICK. They are beyond redemption having betrayed the people.

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    • Boz, the Tories will vote en mass. We have currently a chioce of Labour or nothing, because the fringe parties will not at present be able to form a government for the reasons I gove below
      . If you don’t vote the Tories will get in 150% bad, if you vote Labour and they get in it is the least worst option. Much work needs to be done to get to the point where we have a party with enough influence to beat the big ones in the teeth of a huge media clampdown, and negative spinning . When the Labour party announced the would tax the rich at 50% you would have thought they had announced the end of the world and the Last Judgement, rolled in with the third world war and Armaggeddon, according to the media.

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      • Of course. God forbid that the Multimillionaires dig into their pockets for anything!! Incidentally, Labour are the ONLY party who will do ANYTHING for the working classes, they are not the enemy. Get SOCIALISTS back into Parliament.

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      • But if we keep thinking the fringe parties cannot do anything, they never will.

        But the 50p tax band was a trap set my labour, in 2008 Labour set the upper tax at 45p then in 2009 when labour knew it was over they set the tax band at 50p but not to come in until 2010, then if labour had won it would have been dropped.

        The day that Miliband said the tax band would go back up to 50p Ball’s was was telling people it was only a short term measure, to ensure the rich it would not last long.

        Gimmicks

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    • I would Anita but do I want to look out of my window and see a big ugly windmill? No I do not nor do I want to see them on the Yorkshire Moors or any other green space. They are environmentally damaging, you see the view is also part of our beautiful country and it should not be blighted with these things.

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    • This is precisely the reason that Labour struggle to get in. Too many people are looking to fringe parties who have no hope of winning. Stick together people.

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      • So what should we be looking at Progress Miliband Ball’s and Reeves, in 1900 labour was a Fringe party. Labour brought in ATOS and the hate campaigns of scroungers workshy.
        Now they are talking about hard working not working class. what is the difference between labour and the Tories the middle class

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      • The so called “Squeezed middle class” are actually squeezed working class Who, like the rest of us RELY on a REGULAR wage or salary to survive. The only DIFFERENCE is in their MINDS.They think they are a cut above the rest of us because they earn a few grand more than we do. They are a major part of the problem. the Tories convinced them that they are something special. They feel SQUEEZED because, in spite of their belief, they ARE NOT Tory elite. those of us who are at the bottom are feeling WRUNG OUT with little left to lose. SO, what with SNOBBERY, people not voting, others looking for something in FRINGE PARTIES that doesn’t exist, OUR massive majority is being split very well in the Tories favour. They all stick together and use the System. Unless WE do LIKEWISE, this country is finished for working classes. SUPPORT THE UNIONS, GET INVOLVED in our POLITICAL WING, i.e. THE LABOUR PARTY and get true SOCIALISTS back into PARLIAMENT. The Alternative is that our CHILDREN and GRANDCHILDREN will pay an awful PRICE.

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  8. Pingback: Dear Mr Miliband… | Jay's Journal

  9. I support the comments contained in this very excellent letter to Milliband, he will ignore it at his peril. The Coalition, in my opinion, is the very worst government this county has had ever, it’s policies are ill thought out, implemented minus any form of strategic plan, and, worryingly, Fascist in concept. We all know, or at the least strongly suspect, both Ian Duncan Smith, senior Atos managers and senior DWP managers have knowingly and deliberately implemented policies which so reduce a persons worth that suicide for many has become a favourable chosen alternative, hence we have over 4000 suicides each year as a direct result of the deliberate calculated actions imposed by the very people who should be looking after our well being. This is manslaughter and those responsible MUST be made made to answer, and as in the Nuremberg trials, ” obeying orders is not a acceptable defence. This deeply flawed coalition which seeks at every opportunity to deny us our constitutional rights of free speech, protest, and civil liberties must be voted out in such a fashion that none of them can have the remotest hope of ever being in any government ever again.

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  10. Reblogged this on Jay’s Journal and commented:
    We need more people writing to Ed Milliband to ask what he will do about this letter. Will he take notice of it and actually do something? I doubt it, which I truly am sad about as the Labour Party seem to have nothing to offer for the next election.
    I’m angry because people who understand the Austerity Program and the Deficit etc better than any politician are being ignored and its due to the fact that the Labour Party too want to keep this Deficit Fetishism going.
    I’m so angry with the Labour Party for not actually doing anything this past 3+ years other than agreeing with a lot said by the coalition, standing with the coalition on various votes and laws, and by being silently in the background! Where is your gumption Labour, you won’t win votes by being weak and silent!
    I am extremely angry with the people of this country for doing nothing – they sit and they complain yet they do nothing. There are supposed to be marches next month (February) against Atos, there are demonstrations against Workfare, the cuts in welfare, etc but these will now be stopped by the gagging law that went through yesterday – or, it that why the water cannons have been requisitioned?

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  11. Yes it’s a good response. Unfortunately this voter has lost ALL confidence in ALL political party’s. I simply hope one day that the ordinary people of this country have an opportunity to run things for the benefit of the majority – because ALL of them run things for the minority few – Although Labour may give us minions a slightly better standard of living, they’re no different in real terms.

    I would like to see local people who care about their local environment running their own councils for the benefit of their people – and on reasonable salaries (Not 160K) as opposed to business experts in the fish industry becoming heads of councils in areas they have never lived in and no know nothing about.

    I would like to see ministers with the relevant experience running associated departments instead of environment minister becoming justice secretary with no experience in either.

    I would expect a Prime Minister to have had experience in a number of relevant departments and not get elected because he is the least “wet” than the rest.

    And preferably all the above have actually worked in the real world!

    I’ll take my medication now and return to normal – whatever that is.

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    • This is what I want to See. The return of Socialism. Ordinary working people as SOCIALIST Labour candidates. NEW Labour are too close to .Toryism in my opinion. They will need the support of the working classes (Including the so called Squeezed middle) in order to support us in parliament.

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      • Is that what Socialism is? I think we need to stop using labels – they divide us. To me it’s common sense.

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  13. .. all poli tici ans are just mere puppets
    so Milli and co will do nothing adequate to ‘change’ anything

    we are headed for the inevitable, like it or not, tory/labour/red/blue or not

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      • People rattling on about Blair is getting ridiculous. HE is in the PAST, was he even a SOCIALIST, I have no idea, he may have been a TORY INFILTRATOR. Even if he was a socialist, he would have HAD to modernise the Party because THE PEOPLE turned against the unions and the Labour party and they couldn’t get in. I AGREE that NEW LABOUR are nearer to Toryism than Socialism. THAT is what the PEOPLE WANTED. We need to move on now, DROP this OBSESSION with BLAIR, GET ORDINARY WORKERS true SOCIALISTS back into Parliament. Everything we are seeing now is due to the weakening of the unions WHO, at the end of the day,are groups of WORKERS fighting for workers rights. They have recognised the mistakes of the past and have changed the way they do things. SO, FORGET BLAIR. move on and support the unions who are supporting you.

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  14. No, it isn’t sad and defeatist, it’s being a realist! We are going to have to sort this out because none of the parties are going to. They have all been bought off. It’s up to us to change it and we can! The best way is to start going to meetings at the grass roots and taking our power back. Take your money out of the big banks and buy locally at the farmers market. Stop buying from corporations and supermarkets. Listen to the People’s Voice and Max Igan and get educated about what is really happening in our world. Stop any support of the military industrial complex and learn to meditate. It’s all out there on the internet – for the moment.

    All power to the people!

    x

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      • So what is your problem with them???

        You have a problem with crowd-funded, uncensored news carrying stuff the main stream won’t touch?

        Or you have a problem with David Icke that you have never met, listened to or read any of his books????

        I’m intrigued, because while we fight between ourselves they get away with murder.

        Regards

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      • I have no problem crowd funded anything – if its honest. Fact is, it isn’t. Some of their programmes are nothing but conspiracy and lies. They are stealing money from the people by sensationalism, telling them its “news the mainstream won’t touch” and for the majority there is a viable reason why the mainstream won’t touch it. They are exploiting vulnerable people and telling lies and mixing it with genuine truth – its a smoke screen.

        If you doubt what i say go find some transparency – not the rubbish accounts they put out, but real honest transparency.

        You wont find it.

        Your assumption turned into a question regarding my knowledge of Mr Icke is also ill founded but i will not elaborate.

        It’s enough to say he is one giant hypocrite.

        I’m not fighting with you, on the contrary, i agree with almost all you wrote and i would stand shoulder to shoulder with you against the establishment regardless of your stance on TPV – but i won’t support fake prophets that clearly exploit people.

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  16. Just to reply to you Jon, I need to ask for the evidence for your allegations that TPV are stealing money, exploiting vulnerable people and that David is a hypocrite. It is not enough to state these things without any evidence at all.

    There is huge evidence that what he has been talking about over the years is being verified by many other people’s research and findings from all over the planet. I try to go to the source for everything on his website and most things do have verification in research papers. Yes, sometimes some things may be fear based and scare-mongering but take Fukishima. The msm is not reporting on it at all. Tepco lied and the us government treble the amount of radiation people can be exposed too. There are many respected scientists like Helen Caldicott trying to warn people of the long-term consequences and we just fight and argue!

    I don’t understand why you call David a prophet – he would not claim this title at all. He rubbishes most of the spiritual gurus who are just sitting gazing at their navels while we are being enmeshed in the snares of a fascist dictatorship.

    Regards.

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    • No – sorry. I am not going to get drawn into a long protracted debate about David Icke. TPV is not just about him anyhow.

      I have the evidence and I’m not interested in convincing others.

      This is not the place for that anyhow.

      I will say, finally, ask for total transparency – see how far it gets you.

      Anything that is funded by the people should have that at the very least.

      Good luck!

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