As the Guardian notes:
With 10 days until George Osborne delivers his crucial fourth budget, an Opinium/Observer poll shows almost three times as many voters (58%) believe the austerity drive is harming the economy as those who think it is the correct medicine to restore it to health (20%).
It's taken people remarkably long time to twig this, but in the light of near universal support for the plan in the media (including almost all at the BBC bar Paul Mason, and some at the Guardian) this is not surprising. And some parts of Labour have not helped too. Still, I was always sure that people would eventually realise that the way to repay your debt is not to cut your income, which is what the Austerian's plan involves.
But can we have a real Plan B soon, please, someone? Compass have done it. I've done it. The Green New Deal have done it. Others have done it. We just need someone like Labour to do it now.
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I’ve been shocked by how utterly gormless, pointless, useless & worthless the Tories are. David Cameron’s comments that the late Lord Keynes & all his followers (including Martin Woolf, the most respected columnist on the FT) are idiots who believe in a “magic money tree”, make me wonder WTF the Tories are thinking of ? If they are hoping to get re-elected on the grounds of economic competence they have as much hope as Audley Harrison being next world heavyweight champion !
@ William. Agreed BUT the problem is that the Tories have sedulously propagated the lie that Labour’s handling of the economy was even more disastrous, indeed that it was a strategy of culpably and even criminally irresponsible wrecking, which our supine Opposition has done NOTHING to rebut or deny.
Faced with a choice between “those willing to take tough decisions to put things right” (as the Coalition have portrayed themselves) and “those who wantonly and wilfully put the economy at risk and nearly brought it to meltdown” (as the Coalition have successfully painted Labour), then the electorate is likely to go for the Tories, even if they do see them as idiots and incompetents, because they will view them as well-meaning, rather than with Labour, whom they will see as wanton, malevolent wreckers.
And I repeat,our supine Opposition has done NOTHING to rebut or deny this picture, but contents itself with saying “Yaa boo sucks” to the Government, and to hope that it will trip up over its own shoelaces, to let Labour back into power. Labour HAS to promote a VISION of a fair, efficient and compassionate economy that works for all, and part of that is to show that the economy WAS moving in that direction before the 2008 crash, and was beginning to move that way in mid 2010, before the Coalition knocked the wheels off the wagon.
I try to hope, but alas, I fear the massed obfuscation, and even lies, of the Tory media mean that many people will vote on the fiction, and not the truth. And Cameron knows this. The ONLY way to spike his guns is for a Plan B to be a) proclaimed and b) energetically argued for so that c) even the Tory media will find it hard to rebut.
Andrew – Great post – I couldn’t agree more.
best
Howard
@Andrew – well said.
Can you imagine the outrage in the media if:-
A Labour chancellor had staked his reputation on keeping a AAA rating and then lost it
A Labour government ordered aircraft carriers with no aircraft
A Labour prime minister was caught selling No 10 suppers for £250k
A Labour defence minister took his un-vetted best mate to top secret meetings
A Labour government had promised no NHS reorganisation and then proceeded to dismantle it
I agree that Labour needs a vision. Something Blair was very good at even if he didn’t deliver on all his promises. But what’s Cameron’s vision? He waffles on about a global race, vested interests and encouraging business, without describing in detail what his ideal Britain would look like. I’ve not yet heard any journalist challenge him on this either. We all know
it means low wages, limited employee and environmental protection and turning the UK into a tax haven for the super-rich and tax-dodging multinationals. It’s a dystopian vision and one, I suspect, many Tory voters don’t realise they are promoting by voting for them.
Thanks, Andrew. I agree completely. But as a relatively new arrival to British politics, what I still don’t entirely understand is WHY Labour hasn’t resisted the Tories mischaracterisation of their policies and the causes of the huge debt. Yes, there are many things Labour has to apologise for – among other obvious ones not regulating the banks more tightly – but so much of the more recent debt comes precisely from bailing out the banks that you’d think Labour should be able to defend themselves better against Tory pro-austerity arguments. Is the problem that so much of Labour has bought into the pro-city, neo-liberal vision that sadly remains the consensus opinion among the political and media class, despite the catastrophic failure of that model in 2007-8 and beyond? But even then, why does Labour cling to that model? Is it self-interest? Has the Labour leadership been corrupted by the system they claim to want to change? Or are Labour’s leaders just too scared of taking the risk of challenging it? I can’t but believe that if they did, loudly, confidently and consistenly, the people/voters would reward them.
You are not alone in wondering what holds Labour back…..
The Tories are torn, I think, between knowing that their real mission is to be a one-term government which wrecks the economy and being proper politicans. Cameron I’m sure in particular doesn’t want to lose the next election. He knows it’s his job to place wrecking the economy over and above getting re-elected but he’s started to take a view of himself as a politician and doesn’t want to give that glossy reflection up. There’s the problem with hiring someone without any principles, he doesn’t care for doing what he’s promised he’d do to his paymasters any more than he does to the electorate. If you hire a known traitor, you must expect him to be a traitor to you too. Osborne’s a different proposition, he’s simply witless and will think himself hugely clever for doing exactly what he’s told to do, be it wrecking the economy or jumping off a cliff.
I would like to comment, however:
http://newsthump.com/2013/03/08/magic-money-trees-found-growing-in-the-cayman-island/
Very good