A potential springboard to launch Labour ahead of the election has been wasted by a set of standard, uninspiring ideas on a decade timeframe.
A potential springboard to launch Labour ahead of the election has been wasted by a set of standard, uninspiring ideas on a decade timeframe
This week, Labour leader Ed Miliband outlined his party’s 10-year plan for Britain should they win the general election next May. Addressing the Labour Party Conference in Manchester, Miliband laid out six key points that he believes will help bring the country back together.
The two standout policies are plans to raise the minimum wage to £8 an hour by the end of the next parliament and helping fund the NHS through proceeds from a mansion tax.
It is true that all these ideas are arguably agreeable in their own individual right, however I can’t help feeling that Labour have missed a trick here. It is their last opportunity before the general election to really take the spotlight and spell out their vision to the general public – to offer something radical and inspiring. Unfortunately, they have failed to do so.
Some media outlets have picked up on the proposal to raise the minimum wage to £8 an hour, which is encroaching on radical territory but it isn’t nearly bold enough. Currently, the London living wage is £8.80 an hour, and £7.65 outside of the capital. Factor in an annual inflation rise of around 2 per cent forecast by the Bank of England and it’s clear that such a figure should be closer to £10 an hour by 2020 in order to sustain a living.
Instead, Labour should have proposed an immediate rise to £8 and then have the rate pegged to inflation. As James Bloodworth writes, a move would not be regarded as anti-business because workers are essentially consumers too, and the more money they have in their pocket the more likely they are to spend it.
Similarly, Miliband has tinkered with boldness before, toying with the idea of renationalising the railways. Unfortunately though, he only aggravated many voters and businesses by proposing a half-hearted approach, therefore missing out on a policy that would have chimed with many. Such lack of conviction could come back to haunt Miliband and Labour come next May.
In what is one of the tightest elections to date to predict, Labour and its leader need a distinctive narrative. Miliband’s personal ratings are woeful, and when it comes to the economy the Conservatives are strides ahead on an issue that is fundamental in deciding elections – the Scottish referendum is evidence of that. Labour needs its trump card.
And it would have come with a pledge to, say, renationalise the railways, reform drug policy, or take a firmer stance on the minimum wage. There is evidence of major public support for all these policies.
But not only that, Miliband would have something to personally stand for; and his party would have a narrative and direction that they could portray to the electorate.
It’s a shame then that what could have been a springboard to really launch Labour ahead of the election has instead been wasted by a set of standard, uninspiring ideas on a decade timeframe.
Of course it is beneficial to have a long-term plan, but voters also want something to rally around now, to get behind and really feel passionate about. This week Labour could have given them that.
Luke Nightingale is a freelance journalist and founding editor of The Looking Glass Liverpool. He also blogs
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34 Responses to “Labour’s missed opportunity”
JoeDM
Milibean is rapidly becoming the ‘cock-up king’ of British politics.
Only today it appears that he has refused, yes refused, to be part of a “Help For Heros” charity photo campaign run by the Sun when the other party leaders are all fully involved.
Forgets his lines. Cannot eat a bacon sandwich. When asked on Channel Four news what is the most important issue for then next government he fails to mention the deficit !!!!
MoreLeftThanYou
I agree. The Mansion Tax proposal is also pitiful. The target to be raised should have been at least £5 billion.
Dave Roberts
Whoever thought of a mansion tax as the salvation, financially, of the NHS should be sacked, now. What is a mansion and what is the level of tax that should be imposed on it? This is one of the worst thought out, knee jerk policies ever to come from Labour.
The London Borough of Hackney is, on paper, one of the most deprived in the country. It has also had one of the biggest jumps in house prices in the country as well. From Stoke Newington in the north to Victoria Park Village in the south, the latter pronounced tongue in cheek as it’s estate agentese, houses of a million are the norm not the exception.
Take Lavender Grove for instance. Just off Queensbridge Road south of hipster Dalston and east of equally hipster Shoreditch it runs west to London Fields whereupon our traveler will soon find themselves in Victoria Park and quaint Lauriston Village, more estate agentese!
Lavender Grove is interesting in that it is home to the Mayor of Hackney Jules Pipe and consists of a hundred or more two story three up three down small garden houses all very well preserved. They are all, when they are on the market, a million two plus. Victoria Park Road itself has flats for six hundred thousand and that would be cheap with work needed.
All of these properties are in wards that are solidly Labour with massive majorities. The borough is almost entirely Labour and it’s not unique in either London or the country. Labour voters in properties like these are going to be asked to emulate the turkey at Christmas time and vote for massive increases in their tax bills. It’s not going to happen.
Labour Party thinkers have got to realise that the cannot be elected nationally without taking into account that a lot of their hard core support lives in houses that will be faced with huge tax hikes. They have fallen victim to their own propaganda of foreign fat cats based in tax havens buying up our inner cities and leaving them empty, personally I’d rent them out but that’s just me!
This is one that should be kicked into the long grass and left there so that Tory number crunchers forget about it and don’t point out that the paltry sums raised will do noting to save the NHS either.
RoyB
If you believe The Sun’s account of anything, then you would believe anything! And if eating a bacon sandwich in some approved fashion is a qualification for PM, then our dog could do the job.
Dave Roberts
Most people who read The Sun are Labour voters.