Ed Miliband avioids socialists, photo Paul Mattsson (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)
Matt Gordon
The Labour Party conference in Manchester was the last before the general election with Labour setting out its policies for a future government.
After five years of unrelenting Tory austerity and a ‘recovery’ that has only benefited those at the top, anyone hoping for something new would’ve been disappointed.
Labour has already promised a ‘binding fiscal commitment’ to match Tory spending plans – a continuation of austerity. Ed Miliband and shadow chancellor Ed Balls used conference to spell out what that means; for example, freezing (in other words cutting) Child Benefit, Winter Fuel Allowance, and increasing the retirement age, a huge blow to the living standards of millions.
The pro-Tory press continue to call Labour ‘spendaholics’ by pointing out that its figures don’t add up. In reality this means that cuts under a Labour government will be deeper and more vicious than anything they are prepared to announce now.
These polices mean that a Labour win in the general election is far from certain. Miliband’s approval ratings have consistently shown him behind Tory leader David Cameron. And the lead enjoyed by Labour is far narrower than would be expected for a party planning to win, but Miliband is hoping to sleepwalk into Number Ten.
It is the promise of ‘more of the same’ that’s damaging Labour’s election chances. But opposing the current Con-Dem government’s cuts programme would win more support from ordinary people.
Miliband’s proposal for a £8 an hour minimum wage falls short of a living wage – the £10 an hour starting point that the Socialist Party campaigns for – and even worse it is not to be implemented until 2020, so gives no relief to the millions of people who are struggling on poverty wages right now.
The disregard Labour leaders have for their own conference is reflected in the fact that it was a carefully stage managed affair, with little room for real debate. All the major decisions had been made behind closed doors and were announced during carefully crafted set-piece speeches.
Every year a new curtailment of the remaining democracy is introduced, most recently the direct appointment of the Shadow Cabinet and of course the effective breaking of the trade union link at the infamous special conference last March.
If any resolutions challenging the leadership do get through, then conference has no binding mandate on them anyway.
The socialist ‘Yes’ campaigners in the referendum in Scotland have given a glimpse of what sort of movement can be built to oppose austerity in the whole of the UK, but it is guaranteed that the Labour Party would oppose such a movement. There is nothing that can be done to reclaim the party for the working class.
Instead the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, in which the Socialist Party is prominent, will be standing in the general election to give a real alternative to the pro-capitalist establishment.
