Democracy is entirely dependent upon the existence of effective opposition to the government of the day. I am aware that some are discussing whether we have such an opposition at present; that is not my concern now. Instead I am deeply troubled to note that the Guardian has reported that:
The Labour party is set to lose more than £1m a year after George Osborne announced plans for a 19% cut in state funding for opposition parties.
The move will hit the finances of Labour, the SNP, the Lib Dems, Greens and other smaller parties.
The text of the spending review confirms that “the government proposes to reduce Short money allocations by 19%, in line with the average savings made from unprotected Whitehall departments over this spending review”.
This is absolutely ridiculous, not is there any logic to it. The job of the UK opposition parties has not reduced because of government cuts. Indeed, it may have increased. And the value of democracy should be undiminished. But Osborne has decided to propose a cut that is wholly unjustified.
Why do that? The answer is obvious. All the opposition parties will now have to put effort into reversing this change - which will in all likelihood happen. But, in the meantime other cuts will receive less attention. Just as the government might want.
But in the meantime the message is clear: the value of democracy is diminishing in the eyes of this government, a theme that has long been recounted on this blog.
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I wouldn’t worry too much about this, it will require the consent of Parliament, and there are enough Tory backbenchers who will vote against the Government on this. I know of three already, and there are more who are principled (believe it or not) and will not support such a brazenly undemocratic move.
I slightly get the feeling that Osborne is just trying it on with this one, not exactly the behaviour we should expect from the Chancellor!
But that means that I am right: this will not go through but it will distract a great deal, deliberately
I don’t think it will distract to any great degree, it will take little parliamentary time and effort to defeat. On the other side, the message is clearly damaging to Osborne, and the Government, as you point out. So in total, it would seem to be a misjudgment from the Chancellor.
I think the current performance of the Labour Party is more of an affront to democracy than the possibility that their funding might be get.
Whatever one thinks of Cameron and Osborne, there’s no denying that McDonnell and Corbyn are a disgrace to this country.
I am sorry: that is not useful comment, it is just ad hominem
I will happily delete more of the same
Totally agree that the insult is unnecessary, but the facts are there: we have an inefficient opposition and the gravity lies in the fact that this may go on for a long time.
AS for the 1m cut in subsidies, said 2 individuals will also be responsible for a substantial loss in contributions from business and HNW individuals. Labour also get those, let’s not forget, including from some hedge fund managers!
The purpose of an opposition is to provide an alternative to the Government. That alternative requires an alternative narrative along with an alternative philosophy and way of looking at the world.
Unfortunately, on the basis of such criteria we have not had an efficient, effective or even competent opposition since the Blairite cuckoos in Thatcher ‘ s ideological clothing infiltrated the largest party outside the Conservative and Unionist Party over 20 years ago.
The real disgrace is that the loyal opposition has largely agreed with the neo liberal philosophy and narrative for so long.
Now that they have been sussed out for the empty vessels they have always been their supporters, hangers on and fellow travellers are merely expressing their impotence through displays of mardyness. Which is why there are more infantile attacks and misinformation in the Guardian, particularly today, then there are in the right wing papers which, in their reporting of the Shadow Chancellor’s jibe at Osbourne yesterday, are the epitome of balanced reporting in comparison with the Guardian, which lost the plot a long time ago agony has been going downhill for some years.
Steady on, On whatever grounds do you contend that. Incidentally I am not a labour or particularly a Corbyn supporter.
It may have the effect of uniting all the various opposition parties into, effectively, one. If they find they can make that arrangement work over this issue then they may well repeat it with others, to the Tory’s cost.
Good point, Bill.
If you pursue that line of thinking a bit further it might also appear that coalition maybe the inevitable solution to first-past-the-post distortions.
If we add in the attempt to undermine Labour Party funding in the Trade Union Bill it all gets a bit sinister especially when, with help of Private Eye, we add up the millions being donated to the Conservative by business and wealthy individuals. Pure generosity is not their motive. It does look like democracy is something given lip service only.
Not forgetting the changes to electoral registration…
The movement of quite large amounts of people further north because of housing costs..
The amount of people moving out of housing and into sheds/cars/vans/caravans etc..
The amount of new-build being bought as second homes/investments by the capital city uberclass..
Kinda puts the Westminster council houses-for-votes in the shade as far as gerrymandering goes..
And still people do not “get” that George is running the show, with Dave as a sock-puppet.
When one also adds in the ‘gagging bill’; withdrawing FOI requests; the lost millions via individual electoral registration; cutting the number of MPs to pre-1800 levels and redrawing constituency boundaries according to the electoral register instead of the Census – there is an overwhelming case for saying that this government is undermining democracy. And that is before considering the impact of privatisation of public services on removing transparency, in the name of commercial sensitivity.
Even I am feeling depressed now
In that case I won’t add what I was going to add on the direction in which I think things will travel once May’s Snooper’s Charter is in place, Richard. We’ve had a enough misery for one day as we’ve seen – via the unpicking of fine print of the Autumn Statement – what misery lies ahead for many.
As an aside though, and as yet another illustration of how ideology trumps joined up thinking on policy. I note grants for those who want to train as a nurse have gone and that now trainee nurses will be treated as any other student and have to take out a loan. And this at a time when the NHS is short of nurses and thus spending £ millions on agency staff. But never mind, the cap has been taken off the number of nursing places – as if that in any way cancels out the other. And it is yet another “saving” a government department can notch up and gain brownie points for – or at least its senior civil servants can.
Well, all I can say – again – is that the impending tsunami of policy mess just got even bigger, though sadly many innocent people will suffer as a consequence.
Just found this; I don’t believe we need concern ourselves with the Snooper’s Charter, it’s technically unworkable and even were it not it’s not going to apply to the smaller ISPs (Internet Service Providers) anyway. If you want to go online to arrange to blow up Westminster, then, you just have to do it through one of the smaller ISPs as the government accepts they don’t have the resources to implement it. One imagines smaller ISPs, in the event the charter does somehow stumble into existence, will be grateful for the resulting rush of business from the terrorism sector. More in that lamentable vein here http://arstechnica.co.uk/tech-policy/2015/11/uk-isp-boss-points-out-massive-technical-flaws-in-investigatory-powers-bill/ Interesting this stuff doesn’t make the mainstream media, isn’t it? I gather it’s becaus4e they don’t employ journalists, only rewriting staff who rewrite the major stories of the day in the house style. Anyhoo, some might feel this latest information illustrates the real problem Cameron et al will have in their bid to retain power forever – they’re stupid. The Dunning-Kruger effect comes to mind, (it’s where people are so stupid, they can’t ever have it explained to them how stupid they are) perhaps exacerbated by decades of being surrounded by yes-men who just want their money. Whatever, the Snoopers Charter, like Universal Credit, is the stuff of fantasy. We can sleep easy on that score at least.
Further to comments from Tim Hall and Lucas Beard and others, I remain puzzled at their fulminations against Corbyn and McConnell, especially when those fulminations go so far as to call Corbyn and McConnell “a disgrace”, but even when they charaterise the Opposition as “inefficient”, given that the Chancellor has at least given the appearance of backtracking on his disastrous “work penalty”/Tax Credits cuts.
Are Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell, and the Labour Party as a whole to be given none of the credit for this, and is ALL the credit to be given to the Green, Lib-Dem, SNP and even internal Conservative Party opposition?
If so that seems to me to be strongly at variance with the facts, and blame for any under performance of the Opposition would better be assigned the endless sniping of the neo-liberal clique in the Labour Party, which is determined that Jeremy Corbyn should fail, so that he can be replaced by the sort of Tory-lite, neo-liberal Blairite clone such as was on offer, apart from Jeremy (for whom I did not actually vote – voting instead, firmly holding my nose, for Yvette Cooper, despite her primitive and misguided views on the economy) – a prospect that actually saw Labour lose 4 million votes between 1997 and 2005, a further 1 million between 3005 and 2010, when Milliband -trying to cleanse the Labour Party of its neo-liberal instincts acquired over the last 35 years, actually garnered MORE votes than did Tony Blair in 2005.
Andrew – you are 100% correct on this one.
The behaviour of the PLP – fattened as they are by being ‘in parliament’ (or just being there) and on the expenses gravy train – is an absolute disgrace. I would not blame Corbyn if he had a purge.
And what’s this I hear about bullying in the Conservative Party?
Democracy is such a vague concept interpreted in so many different ways you would need to agree a definition before deciding whether we have it and how it is being undermined.
In my view there is no political democracy yet anywhere in the world. The UK is only one step removed from an elected dictatorship in that we have a two party system (enforced by first past the post voting) and a government which once elected rarely involves the public in decision making and owes its true allegiance to an un-elected head of state.
There are no doubt politicians on both sides who would prefer a one party state, and I’m sure Osbourne would like to find any way he can to increase his chances of getting to be the head of such a blue blooded version.
Without economic democracy, I’m not sure political democracy stands any chance of ever being implemented. The US is a great example of a democratic dream turned into a plutocratic nightmare because concentrated wealth will always look after its own interests.
I don’t see Labour or Conservatives pushing for electoral reform, state funding of political parties, proportional representation, an elected second chamber and an elected head of state. I wonder why!
I’d be surprised if this got through. I would hope there are at least a few Conservatives who can see further than the current electoral cycle, realise they won’t be in power forever and 35% vote share does not give you carte blanche.
Punitive measures like these which hamper opposition parties vindictively can easily be paid back in kind in the future.
£25 maximum yearly political donation by individuals and businesses…..
For me, the business concerning not funding training for nurses (including mid-wives I believe) chimes with my view that this is consistent with one of the policies which is to nudge voters into not having children. Why produce more people within a country when we can get external immigrants to come in and work for a pittance? We will of course see short-staffing taking place and the health service will deteriorate, creating consent for more privatisation. I’m sure that it is part of the cunning logic we are seeing from the Tories.
I agree that cutting the state funding for parties is anti-democratic because it invites the patronage of wealthy donors who want their piece of flesh for their donation. Then the question to all politicians arises: ‘Who’s your Daddy’?
However – for me – the greatest undermining of democracy is the shameless games that Osbourne plays. Everyone gets wound up about the tax credit cut but then he makes it appear that he has been ‘compassionate’ and has ‘listened’ and puts it across that he has pulled back (in fact he hasn’t: he just made cuts elsewhere and delayed the rest – payments under Universal Credit will see to that). That’s an abuse of power if I ever saw one. Just as bad as Blair’s behaviour over Iraq.
So all in all, it is very depressing – BUT!! Remember – the Tories believe in nudge which I believe results in a tipping point – defined as:
‘the point at which a series of small changes or incidents becomes significant enough to cause a larger, more important change’.
Well who is to say that this cannot work both ways in that the change here may be people beginning to see the unjustness of this – rather than the need for austerity (you’ve said this yourself Richard) and will begin to reject it? This could happen – it is a clear and present danger to the Tories.
I don’t wish to appear self promoting here but I go back to another song I put up here recently – ‘Long Time Gone’ by Crosby Stills and Nash:
‘But you know
The darkest hour
Is always, always just before the dawn’
So who knows – the ‘dawn’ maybe that people will just get sick and tired of this situation because the ‘darkest hour’ – which implies things must get worse – makes them wake up. This is keeping me going at the moment and I’d commend it to anyone who considers themselves part the ‘counter-narrative’.
“maybe that people will just get sick and tired of this situation because the ‘darkest hour’ — which implies things must get worse — makes them wake up ”
It sort of keeps me going as well-the prospect of a new dawn and the complete discrediting of the economics of the last 40 years. What worries me is that the narcolepsy is of a different order than in the past. The hardest hit are divided amongst themselves with those that feel they have a few crumbs vilifying those that don’t in the hope that the system will reward them. Combine that with rising xenophobia (another displacement activity) and stupefaction from 24/7 dumbed -down TV – all this marks this era as different and could well render it more impervious to the ‘wake up.’ I hope not, we’ll see.
Simon
Can I recommend Guy Standing’s book ‘The Precariat’? Every authentic progressive should read this book if only not to dehumanise those who fall for the displacement activities and other bullshit the neo-lib mafia puts out.
I still maintain that although the short term is dire, the long term deserves our hope.
Keep on keepin’ on Bro’!
Agreed!