Corbyn has a ten point plan to return Labour to office, says Diane Abbott MP
Nothing is more important for the Labour Party than winning the next general election.
But to do this, Labour needs to do two things, not only oppose Tory ideologically-driven cuts, but also to set out an attractive alternative to improve peoples’ standard of living.
It is for this reason that we must be both a firmly anti-austerity and pro-investment party, with a leader who has a clear record of standing up not standing by, and can win the public’s trust.
Now more than ever, Labour needs to fight to protect our public services and stand up for the majority of people in the face of the Conservatives’ ideologically driven offensive.
Austerity continues to decimate our vulnerable communities, with the worst effects of cuts to public services and reforms to welfare still to come for many, especially with the choppy economic waters ahead following the EU referendum result.
To give just one example of the lack of security in austerity Britain, a recent report from Shelter showed that one in three families in England could not pay their rent or mortgage for more than a month if they lost their job.
But it is not just those on low incomes being hit. Across the country each household lost £1,127 on average under the last government just through tax and benefit changes.
Real wages fell for seven years — and the decline only technically stopped because inflation dropped even lower than wages. The Tories’ age of austerity has ushered in a boom in low-paid, insecure jobs with few or zero guaranteed hours.
Today six million working people are paid less than the living wage and poverty among those in work is at a record high.
At the same time the wealth of the richest 1,000 people in Britain has doubled since the financial crash. Measures such as cutting the top rate of income tax have given the lie to the notion that the government is somehow cash-strapped.
Indeed, we live in the most unequal country in the EU. The growth in inequality here is of such a scale that it is helping to drive increasing inequality across Europe as a whole. It is utterly staggering.
And yet it’s a fact which probably many of my constituents, for example, are somehow not surprised at.
Here in our capital city gleaming glass towers overlook some of the most deprived areas of the country. Social and affordable homes are sacrificed for flats and houses which only the wealthiest can afford.
Despite the increase in inequality — and accompanying rise in poverty — much of the media and mainstream political parties had kept saying — in Thatcher’s infamous phrase — “there is no alternative.”
But this all changed with Jeremy Corbyn’s successful leadership campaign last summer.
After our failure in the last election on an ‘austerity lite’ platform, under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership since last September we have been transformed into a clear anti-austerity, pro-investment, party.
For the first time, our leadership team, including Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, have made it absolutely clear that austerity is a political, ideological project, not an economic necessity.
This has started to shift the political framework of debate in Britain, as has been shown by the nature of Owen Smith’s leadership campaign, where he has admitted it was wrong for the temporary party leadership – including all the other leadership candidates than Jeremy – at the time to abstain on the Tories’ destructive Welfare Biil.
In the time Jeremy has been party leader, Labour has forced government U-turns and defeats on over 20 issues, including the proposed cuts to tax credits and personal independence payments.
And our stance has seen us make step forwards electorally – Labour has won all the recent mayoral contests. In May, our national share of the vote – the most important indicator – was up. At the 2015 general election, we were nearly seven points behind. In May, we were a point ahead.
Under Jeremy’s leadership, we have put back on the political agenda that Britain needs a proper industrial strategy which invests in the industries and technologies of the future.
Now to move forward, Labour needs a clear plan to stand up for the interests of the majority and defend their living standards from the cuts. It should clearly oppose the assault on civil liberties and human rights that this government wants to inflict.
And Labour needs to embrace Britain’s rich diversity and extol its economic, social and cultural benefits.
Jeremy Corbyn clearly understands that our relationship to the economy, the environment and our political system needs to be radically transformed.
That is why his ten pledges to rebuild and transform Britain provide the policy platform and vision for us to do this, defend our communities as an effective opposition, build the momentum for a Labour win in the next General Election, and then transform Britain into a fair, more equal and democratic society where no-one and nowhere is left behind.
Diane Abbott MP is Labour’s shadow health secretary. Follow her on Twitter @HackneyAbbott
See: UNISON backs Jeremy Corbyn for Labour Party leader
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22 Responses to “Diane Abbott: Jeremy Corbyn’s vision can win a general election”
Kathy
“At the 2015 general election, we were nearly seven points behind. In May, we were a point ahead.”
Utterly disingenuous & if she doesn’t already know that, she should !
There can be no comparison with the 2015 General Election seeing as the entire country didn’t get the opportunity to vote in May 2016 !!
Diane Abbot is spinning so hard, she’s in danger of falling flat on her face.
Sadly for us Labour party members & supporters, it’s the actions of her & her mates Jeremy & John, that will ensure the party falls with her.
Fred
Michael Hynes’ comment nails it.
It’s amusing how members of the public like Mr Hynes understand the reality precisely whilst a Labour Party bigwig like Diane Abbott is so delusional.
Ann McDowell
Diane Abott hasn’t given credit to the role of Members of the House of Lords in getting policy changes in particular working tax credits. Her claim of more members now than ever before is wrong in. 1996 Labour signed up its one millionth member, she was from Galashiels, and I introduced her to the then Leader Tony Blair and interviewed them both for the front cover of Labour Party News.
Patrick
It seems to me that Dianne Abbott has produced a factual account of the election results and it sticks in the throat of those whose main aim is to get rid of Corby no matter what.
All the tricks have been attempted. Working with the Tories and the hostile mass media (unfortunately including Kuensberg’s hostile BBC), heralded and stewarded in the background by Alastair Campbell and Peter Mandelson, the rebel Labour MPs have taken themselves and the Labour Party to the brink of ridicule and Splitting from the Party. What else can they do? Unless they re-join the PLP and the Shadow Cabinet.
The one thing left in their armoury, which they believe is the “new” trump card, is the unelectability of Jeremy Corbyn argument. Again, all and sundry who do not support Jeremy Corbyn are prepared to defeat him prior to the next General Election because they would prefer a Tory Government before a Corbyn-led Labour Government.
Why did Labour MPs who did not really support Corbyn sign his election papers so he could stand for the leadership? Because they believed he had no chance of winning. Why did the press and mass media ridicule Bernie Sanders at the early stage of his primaries campaign? Because they believed he had no chance of winning. Why have Labour ignored the threat from the Scottish Nationalists and UKIP? Because they believed they had no chance of winning. I do not need to go on.
The accumulation of wealth in the past was a necessary part of getting the resources to invest in industry. The accumulation of wealth today is a way of empoverishing even more the working people of this country and taking wealth out of industry to invest it in speculation and money lending back to the poor. Of course there will be a rise in left wing support and the strengthening of left wing groups; even more so if Labour does not respond to the needs of working people.
The EU has been a mechanism for the enrichment of those economies at the centre of Europe. Germany in particular has no need of regional investment but Spain and Portugal do. German industry exports more than anyone and imports least and Germany spends least on armaments and world intervention. In Britain the rich centre is London and the South East and there has been a weak regional policy under both Labour and the Tories. Supporting industry and the regions is where the EU and the British Governments have failed and the working class know that.
Turning around the years of latent destruction and mallaise will need a mammoth task and a truly dedicated leader and government. Who else by Jeremy Corbyn will be dedicated enough to overcome the hurdles and get the task on the road. Owen Smith’s declarations of intent matter nothing because they are hollow declarations of a puppet whose strings are being pulled ultimately by Campbell and Mandelson. As soon as he has done his work (if successful in beating Corbyn) they will turn on him and “smash him back on his heels”. If Owen is true to his colours he will accept the Corbyn victory and work with JC to turn this thing around without the crass remarks or tail-ending walk-outs.
The measure of Corbyn will be his first General Election. Not the defeatist accusations of an unholy alliance who are actually extremely afraid of his potential victory. The Tories, the wealthy, the better off have been doing well under all the governments over the last 40-50 years. The rich have got richer and the poor have got poorer. The Tory Government is full of millionaires, Eton schoolboys, and Oxford and Cambridge graduates. The PLP also has its fair share of Oxford and Cambridge graduates. That’s not to say that an Oxford or Cambridge graduate could not be good for the Labour movement. But they need to have learned how our enemies work in order to use that knowledge to protect and improve the standard of living of the Labour movement. Unfortunately they cannot see past the economics of austerity because that’s what the “economists” peddle in their publications, papers and throretical journals.
Trade Union leaders should take note that some eggs will have to be cracked to make the omelette. This includes Trident. There is no way we should even contemplate its renewal. Alternatively we should make a bold statement by not renewing and then turn our attention to Bernie Sander’s platform to get the issue firmly debated within the Democratic Party. The Physical waste of resources would be apparent in a struggling economy in Russia as Putin and his successors meet with the demands of the Russian working class.
The UK has been without an aircraft carrier and will be for some years ahead. The only 6 frigates in the British navy are all out of action at the same time. The Government cannot carry out the kind of warfare currently required. Where, therefore, is the need? I don’t think it is with Trident.
A Labour Government under Corbyn would be a beacon for Europe where the right wing are gaining ground because European Socialist Governments are not responding to the needs of their working people. He3nce the growth of alternative groups like Syriza in Greece and Podemos in Spain. These groups have grown out of the Labour movements in those countries because they had been pushed out of the labour movement. They are fighting for a change in the economic policies of their countries and for a new deal from the EU. There is no need to consider them hostile or to proscribe them. We need to use all the strength of working people to achieve our aims internationally.
This is Corbyn’s moment, this is my moment, in history. I have been in the Labour Party since 1969, have fought many a battle from defeating the SNP in the Gorbals in 1969 to campaigning in Tooting in 2016. I call on all Labour Party members to do the same. Once the decision is made, be positive, support the leadership, fight the elections and we shall win.
John Reid
Hopefully Diane will read these comments