Recent Articles

The left has won the economic argument on the cuts

Last night, Reuters revealed that George Osborne will today unveil forecasts showing a borrowing overshoot of at least £86 over four years thanks to a slowing economy. Faisal Islam of Channel 4 tweeted:

George Osborne will today announce more borrowing than Darlings plans over parliament if this: http://reut.rs/uLbBV0 is correct.

That’s Game Over then, in economic terms at least.
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Labour MPs, Cllrs refuse to cross picket lines

On 30 November thousands of ordinary Labour members will be backing public sector workers in their dispute with the government.

In Scotland all Labour MSPs have pledged their support and will not cross picket lines at Holyrood. Likewise Labour AMs in Wales will not cross picket lines at Cardiff Bay.

Today, dozens of Labour MPs and councillors from across the UK have pledged their support for the strikes in a letter to the Guardian (full text below).

They say: “We stand in full solidarity with workers on 30 November – and encourage our fellow Labour politicians to do so too” – in sharp contrast to the equivocation from the Labour leadership.

John McDonnell MP, LRC Chair, said:

We expect Labour MPs and councillors to stand in solidarity with trade union members striking on Wednesday.

The public and Labour Party members especially are behind these strikes and expect Labour politicians to back our fellow trade unionists. There can be no ifs or buts on this one.

Greg Marshall, Broxtowe Labour councillor and co-ordinator of LRC Councillors’ Network, said:

The Labour Party still remains the party best placed to represent the interests of the working class – we were of course founded to give ordinary people a political voice. We should be firmly standing in solidarity with those taking action against the Tory led attacks on pensions.

The Labour Representation Committee (LRC) is a socialist grouping within the Labour movement, with over 1100 members and around 100 affiliated organisations, including six national trade unions.

Full text of the letter
Labour MSPs in Scotland and Labour AMs in Wales will refuse to cross picket lines on 30 November in solidarity with millions of public sector workers.

As Labour MPs and councillors we will not cross picket lines at Westminster or town halls. Instead we will be joining picket lines to do what Labour politicians should do: be on the side of labour.

The Government’s attack on public sector pensions is totally unjustified and unsupported by any economic or actuarial case. It is a crude attack on public sector workers who are already suffering a pay freeze while many face the threat of losing their jobs. This is part of a wider attack by this government on public services and the welfare state, which Labour must resist.

We stand in full solidarity with workers on 30 November – and encourage our fellow Labour politicians to do so too.

John McDonnell MP, LRC Chair
Ronnie Campbell MP, Blyth Valley
Martin Caton MP, Gower
Jeremy Corbyn MP, Islington North
Paul Flynn MP, Newport West
Michael Meacher MP, Oldham West & Royton
Linda Riordan MP, Halifax
Cllr Kingsley Abrams, Lambeth
Cllr Lynne Allen, Hillingdon
Cllr Tony Belton, Wandsworth
Cllr Matthew Brown, Preston
Cllr Barry Buitekant, Hackney
Cllr Van Coulter, Oxford
Cllr Jim Grundy, Ashfield
Cllr Clive Grunshaw, Wyre / Lancashire
Cllr Kevin Hind, Bury St Edmunds
Cllr Mike Jones, Maghull
Cllr Jay Kramer, Hastings
Cllr Geoff Lumley, Isle of Wight
Cllr Greg Marshall, Broxtowe
Cllr John McGhee, East Ayrshire
Cllr Ian Morrison, Ashfield
Cllr Kier Morrison, Ashfield
Cllr Lachlan Morrison, Ashfield
Cllr Tom Neilson, North West Leicestershire
Cllr Mick O’Sullivan, Islington
Cllr Andrea Oates, Broxtowe
Cllr Charlynne Pullen, Islington
Cllr Mike Rowley, Oxford
Cllr Jenny Smith, Bristol
Cllr John Tanner, Oxford
Cllr Sam Tarry, Barking & Dagenham
Cllr Kieran Thorpe, Welwyn Hatfield
Cllr Claire Traynor, Maghull
Cllr Patrick Vernon, Hackney
Cllr Andy Walker, Redbridge
Cllr Dave Young, Calderdale

#MyTramExperience woman: Hitler parody

You see, I think this is the best way to deal with racism – take the piss out of it.

Daniel Kirk has taken a clip from Downfall and mixed it with the racist tram woman video.

It’s genius.

If you haven’t watched it, here is the original video it refers to.

Some have also mooted another outcome for this woman.

Seven questions Labour could ask about Osborne’s new spending

As I’ve already set out, I’m not averse to major infrastructure projects being brought forward through the use of pension funds, as is now being announced by the government.

The excellent Jim Pickard of the FT points out that Australian and Canadian pension funds put 8-15% of their funds respectively into infrastructure investments, while in the UK it’s only 1%.

But I have increasing doubts whether this is anything more than a delaying tactic while the government tries to figure out how to keep capital investment ‘off balance sheet’ at all costs. If I were on the Labour frontbenches tomorrow, I’d be looking to ask the following questions.
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N30: trade unions only look dead

Hardliners. Militants itching for a fight. Michael Gove is in no doubt about who is responsible for N30.

Yet there are a couple of fundamental flaws with the education secretary’s assertion that those taking part in Wednesday’s  public sector stoppage are being manipulated by an unrepresentative clique of hard left union bosses.

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Was the Crash caused by people borrowing too much? No

There’s a simple lie about the financial crisis of 2008 that is still frequently wheeled out by the Westminster commentariat and advocates for the City.

The lie is that the crash happened because people borrowed too much when they couldn’t afford it.

Last week, after Grant Shapps MP wheeled out a doomed plan to kick-start growth by building a few houses, the editor of City AM Allister Heath thundered in his free-sheet:
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Two economics bombs will go off this week

The Organisation for Economic Development and Co-operation (OECD) is today expected to predict that the UK will return to recession in the first six months of 2012.

So much for the “most pro-growth budget ever” claim by Cameron last year.

Then, tomorrow, as Osborne makes his statement announcing billions of spending (remember, its only spending when Ed Balls does it!) the Office for Budget Responsibility will prediction for economic growth in 2011 to around 1% from the 1.7%.

It was predicting 2.6% last year.

The British Chambers of Commerce are now predicting growth of just 0.8%.

Thanks Osborne!

Why ‘union turnout’ is no excuse to attack strike action

Government supporters are busy playing the ‘union turn-out card’ in advance of the TUC Day of Action on Wednesday.

They say that few union members voted for a strike. Non-voters can be assumed to oppose the action, therefore the strike is illegitimate, or so they argue.

This is based on choosing a few bad facts that suit the argument.
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Why don’t the Taxpayers’ Alliance criticise Boris spending plans?

They had no hesitation on the High Speed Rail 2 project: the Taxpayers’ Alliance (TPA) was on the case from the start, branding it “a white elephant”, “a rich man’s railway”, asserting that the £30 billion overall cost of the “Y network” could be better spent elsewhere.

So one might think that grandiose projects costing tens of billions of pounds would automatically attract the TPA’s critical eye from the outset.

But such a thought would be misplaced when considering a scheme far less well thought out and potentially twice as expensive as HS2 – building a new London airport somewhere out in the Thames estuary.
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Clegg’s jobs scheme to cost twice every time

Nick Clegg’s work scheme will cost much more than the government has implied, according to LGC Plus magazine.

The Department for Work & Pensions focused on the fact that the £1bn scheme will offer subsidies of £2,275 to businesses who take on long-term unemployed 18-24 year olds.

But less emphasised was the figure of £3,800 – the amount per person that Work Programme providers themselves will get for placing youths into sustained jobs.

In other words, for every youth found a sustained job – £3,800 goes to work programme providers and another £2,275 to businesses who take them on.

That would take the total payment per job to £6,075, about the same as £6,500 per person that Labour’s Future Jobs Fund cost, but was criticised as too expensive.

LGC Plus magazine added:

The DWP spokesman denied this constituted a ‘double-payment’, as payments through the work programme are made out of the savings generated by people moving off benefits into work.

He said: “The work programme providers receive payments after they have got people into sustained jobs. That’s what the scheme is all about.

Dave Simmonds, chief executive of thinktank Centre for Social & Economic Inclusion also told the magazine that the government may need to open the scheme to public and third sector employers as well.

“I think if they want to achieve the 160,000 figure they won’t be able to rely on the private sector alone,” he said.

In other words the government closed down a scheme after calling it ‘too expensive’ and relaunched it more than a year later under the same conditions. No spin there then.