{"id":6811,"date":"2010-05-11T19:30:40","date_gmt":"2010-05-11T17:30:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2010\/05\/11\/in-opposition\/"},"modified":"2010-05-11T19:32:50","modified_gmt":"2010-05-11T17:32:50","slug":"in-opposition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2010\/05\/11\/in-opposition\/","title":{"rendered":"In opposition – but not for long"},"content":{"rendered":"

The BBC note that the Labour Party has effectively conceded<\/a> that it’s out of office.<\/p>\n

As I suggested at the weekend<\/a> \u2014 this is the right option for Labour right now.<\/p>\n

It has three things to do.<\/p>\n

The first is to select an electable new leader with a deputy who between them can command cross party support. The Left must not be left out this time.<\/p>\n

Second, it has to sit back for at least two years before pulling a Tory \u2014 Lib Dem edifice down. The pain has to be real in the country before an election is called \u2014 and the Tories will deliver just that, plus recession and rising unemployment.<\/p>\n

Third, they have to become much, much more radical. They will be the sole opposition at the next election (Greens apart in the UK and nationalists elsewhere). The Lib Dems are heading to cease to be. In that case the reason for embracing neoliberalism and all the disasters that are following in its wake have ceased to exist.<\/p>\n

But electoral reform has to remain on the agenda. We cannot afford the Tories ever having the chance to secure a majority in its won right \u2014 the prospect for democracy in the UK is just too horrible to contemplate.<\/p>\n

The bedrock for a serious bounce exists.<\/p>\n

And the poisoned chalice is David Cameron’s, topped up by Nick Clegg and his Orange Book friends.<\/p>\n

The next two years will be horrid \u2014 but that was always going to be the case. But at least there is now a prospect of a freshly elected Labour government, soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The BBC note that the Labour Party has effectively conceded that it’s out of office. As I suggested at the weekend \u2014 this is the
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