{"id":84645,"date":"2025-08-03T06:53:51","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T05:53:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=84645"},"modified":"2025-08-03T06:53:51","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T05:53:51","slug":"one-of-the-greatest-of-labours-sins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2025\/08\/03\/one-of-the-greatest-of-labours-sins\/","title":{"rendered":"One of the greatest of Labour’s sins"},"content":{"rendered":"

I think that Robert Reich made an essential point in his daily email<\/a> on Friday. He was discussing the Trump regime\u2019s abandonment of the idea that climate change causes environmental harm, which is, of course, a threat to us all worldwide. What he said was this:<\/p>\n

We cannot deal with the climate crisis unless our democracy is strengthened to reflect the will of the people rather than the profits of giant corporations.<\/p>\n

Democracy and the environment are not two separate issues, of which we must choose one. They are in many respects the same. But democracy is the foundation for all else. If we lose it \u2014 as we are in the process of doing \u2014 we can\u2019t do anything, because there\u2019s no \u201cwe.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

His point was to say that tackling the climate crisis is not more important than preserving democracy. That is wrong because unless we have a voice, we have no way of influencing debate, and what we undoubtedly know is that, amongst the many heinous things that Trump is doing, threatening democracy is high on the list.<\/p>\n

My inclination is to agree with Robert Reich on this issue. I can think of many things that are of great importance to me, with the environment being one of particular significance. However, unless we preserve our right to influence the future, we have no chance of tackling that issue.<\/p>\n

At present, Labour is going to put forward a plan for electoral reform in the UK which will make almost no reference to the need for proportional representation in this country, which is something that is absolutely essential if we are to keep fascists out of office in Westminster.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, we have to work in the hope that we can stop the destruction of democracy, saying which, the fact that Labour is not doing its utmost to achieve that is, in my opinion, one of the greatest of its sins.<\/p>\n

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I think that Robert Reich made an essential point in his daily email on Friday. He was discussing the Trump regime\u2019s abandonment of the idea
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