Compass have just published the following. Given my belief that this country needs a Progrssive Alliance I think this of interest. The shame is the silence from Labour:
Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland, has joined forces with the leaders of Plaid Cymru and the Green Party to call for progressive parties to work together to resist the ‘Tories' toxic politics'.
The leaders have released a statement ahead of Theresa May's first major conference speech as Conservative Party leader.
In the statement — signed by Sturgeon, Leanne Wood of Plaid Cyrmu, Jonathan Bartley and Caroline Lucas from the Green Party of England and Wales and the leaders of the Green Parties of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales — the politicians attack the Conservatives for the ‘the most toxic rhetoric on immigration seen from any government in living memory.'
The statement goes on to say:
“This is not a time for parties to play games, or meekly respect the tired convention whereby they do not break cover during each other's conferences. It is an occasion for us to restate the importance of working together to resist the Tories' toxic politics, and make the case for a better future for our people and communities.”
The statement was drawn up this morning between the parties as a response to increasingly hostile rhetoric from the Conservative Party Conference.
Caroline Lucas, who has long urged progressive parties to work together more, said:
“Now more than ever it is vital that we present a real opposition to the Conservatives. This conference has seen them attempt to inflame tensions in our communities and set out a vision for a ‘hard brexit' that will do untold damage to the places we represent. By uniting we have the best chance of facing them down and protecting the people who elected us.”
Full statement, signed by:
Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland
Jonathan Bartley, co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales
Caroline Lucas, co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales
Leanne Wood, Leader of Plaid Cymru
Steven Agnew, Leader of the Green Party of Northern Ireland
Patrick Harvie, Co-convener of the Scottish Green Party
Alice Hooker-Stroud, Leader of the Wales Green Party
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Yes, it’s deeply disturbing that Labour is being so ineffective, sectarian and incoherent on this.
The neoliberals in Labour are doing their job, neutering any effective opposition. That’s what they’re there to do, whether it’s by refusing/abstaining to vote against Tory policies or simply wrecking the Labour party from the inside. There won’t be any effective opposition from Laboour till all the neoliberal MPs it has are removed and replaced with MPs with genuine socialist itineraries.
I think Corbyn will be at least as opposed to this
Corbyn is just as likely to oppose this
Tribalism runs deep in Labour, unfortunately
I can’t see the PLP or LP ceding to join alliances, only a forced split within Labour might drive that process away from MPs concept of divine right to rule. I wish I were wrong but Bill Kruse’s logic is impeccable.
I think the logic is right
But it’s right across the LP
No LibDem support either. If there is to be a real progressive alliance, then all the parties on the centre/left will have to engage with it. I personally don’t see much mileage in this until we are at that stage.
The Labour leaderships (don’t laugh) silence on this and seemingly everything else this week is a disgrace and shows graphically why Corbyn as leader is a catastrophe.
And they are the official opposition? What an embarrassment.
Worse than an embarrassment. The silence of Corbyn and his team after the appalling utterances at the Tory conference is a disgrace to the Labour party’s history. Either they don’t care about the issues or they just don’t see it as their role to respond. Trying to blame the ‘neo-liberal’s for this is desperate stuff, just illustrative of the tribalism and name calling – immature and irresponsible are the politest terms I can think of.
The last straw for me – time forget Labour and to look elsewhere for serious political leadership and opposition. Great to see the statement today from the SNP/Greens/et al, though disappointing that the LibDems were not there. Need to get on their case
It seems they have spoken this morning
Difficult not to think that the Greens or any other party, on becoming an apparently genuine threat to the Tories, wouldn’t similarly promptly find itself swamped with clandestine neoliberals, all ready and willing to do everything in their power to not provide any effective opposition. I can’t see much future for politics. In terms of providing effective and benign stewardship, if indeed it ever did that, it seems to have had its time. Difficult too to think of what shape future societies might take I know, however, there was a time when men found it impossible to conceive of not being led by kings. Yet, here we are. Where to now? Some form of distributed authority I imagine. We must wait and see.
Richard it really is time for the left in England, including parts of the Labour Party, to wake up to the reality of the SNP
The SNP talks progressive in speeches, conferences and press releases, and makes progressive noises in Westminster, but it is not a “progressive” party where it actually has power, in Holyrood.
If Labour at Westminster made any move to alliance with the SNP, it would have disastrous consequences for Scottish Labour, the unity of UK Labour and even the Union itself.
Neil Findlay in the Morning Star makes the case admirably.
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-e71c-The-SNP-might-talk-left-in-Westminster-but-they-act-right-in-Holyrood#.V_TT5PWcGpg
Get real: the SNP have very little fiscal freedom in Scotland in reality. They effectively have to balance their books. So they have to do unpalatable things as many Labour councils do. For heaven’s sake, deal in political reality. Even try to understand it. That might help.
Bit rude Richard. Only making a point. Did you read Neil Findlay’s article?
As for “balancing the books”, every LA has to do that too, and we do it as best we can while trying to deliver decent services. The SNP has frozen our ability to raise our own cash by its “progressive” Council Tax freeze. And it has cut LA budgets by 11% in cash terms -v- block grant cut from Westminster of 5%.
If you think the SNP really is progressive, can you point to any major progressive policy the they have instituted successfully? Bearing in mind they’ve been in power 9 years.
Apart from making “all” NHS prescriptions free (as opposed to 89% that already were free) and abolishing the Graduate Tax (total for both of £300m out of a £30bn budget)I can’t think of any.
Oh, and BTW, Smith gave them income tax varying powers but they refuse to use them.
Progressive? Not that anyone in Scotland has seen.
The income tax powers are a poisoned chalice: read them, that is obvious
Sorry – but if you ask for the impossible I will point it out. That’s not being rude. That’s just saying you’re wrong oin the SNP, to at least some degree
The SNP have very few tax powers at present. LBTT (the Scottish equivalent of Stamp Duty)is one and their choice was to remove “slabbing” where there was a huge jump in duty on exceeding a particular price (this created distortions in the market) and also to reduce Stamp Duty on lower priced properties and increase drastically the tax on high end properties. Remember no sooner did Scotland introduce this new regime than George Osborne copied it. In England if you purchase at £900K Stamp Duty of £35,000 is due – in Scotland the LBTT is £66,350. Surely that is the absolute essence of a progressive tax. Not to mention their other policies – Scotland effectively abolished the Bedroom Tax, Scottish students get free tuition, no-one pays prescription charges here, our NHS is not under attack from privatisation (or at least to the same extent)and our stats are usually the best in the UK, we are world leaders in climate change targets… I could go on. The SNP are continually attacked by the establishment parties who were pandificated in the Scottish parliament (more pandas in Scotland than MSPs of that party!)The fact is that the SNP have taken Scotland in a very different direction than has been forced on the rest of the UK and we are very much the better for it.
Well that’s good news as far as I am concerned.
However let us see how the MSM treat this.
Steve H
Dont be surprised that the Lib/Dems are not keen. The Libertarian Orange Bookers are still in control of the Lib Dems.
Paddy Ashdown recently wrote in the Observer that he favoured such an Alliance, but almost immediately David Laws said that he and the Orange bookers would not support this. Not much of the ‘Democratic’ or ‘Liberal’ survives presently in this organisation.
If my blogosphere is anything to go by, there is growing support on the Labour left both for an alliance and a commitment to PR. Maybe Bill is correct about the Blairite blockers?
Momentum had Caroline Lucas at its conference
Really…………….now that is interesting.
Sorry, but I don’t think a progressive alliance is a runner under our FPTP system – which of course is a principal reason why the elements it is assumed could form it have in common the aim of replacing FPTP with PR. But it is also the reason why those whom FPTP benefits electorally – which it seems includes the Labour Party – aren’t going to rush to do away with it. So it’s probably clutching at straws.
Under a PR system alliances/coalitions are the order of the day, and that forces parties to come together. Whether the end-result is axiomatically more democratic is debatable IMO: what the electorate tends to get is the lowest common denominator amongst the policies espoused by the alliance partners (despite the fact that any individual voter voted only for *one particular party’s* policies. Why is that more democratic than voters voting on the basis of “what it says on the tin” (yes, we all know that the Trades Descriptions Act doesn’t apply to party manifestos, but voters aren’t completely gullible)?
Anyway, I personally doubt there’s enough common glue to stick the presumptive alliance elements together apart from:- common detestation of the Tories (tub-thumping appeal but essentially negative) and PR (could be seen as opportunistically/self-interestedly motivated). Not much to go on seems to me, but what else do they have in common?
Which brings us back to the necessity for Labour to get its act together. There’s no way round that IMO.
On the question of Labour’s silence for most of the week on anything stated at the Tory conference, it’s worth reading the final paragraph of Marina Hyde’s piece in The Guardian (well, the whole article is worth reading). Can it really be true that the only utterance for nearly four days was a recurring tweet about ‘the Labour Film Fest coming to Manchester’? Astounding!!!
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/oct/05/tory-conference-the-eurocidal-maniacs-have-found-their-theresa-bae
Why do they pay media people?
Apart to leak about me to Guido?
Apart from a very brief period when I used to look at blog (around the time of the MPs’ expenses scandal) I can’t say that’s a blog that interests me much, Richard, so I wouldn’t know about any leaks about you. But if that is what goes on then I have to say it’s a mark of pettiness and game playing that seems to be a feature of Club Corbyn. Sadly, the Tories sail serenely on as a result.
I agree
Thanks a bundle for that link.. absolutely priceless!
Laughed myself sick…