{"id":92441,"date":"2026-05-21T07:14:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T06:14:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=92441"},"modified":"2026-05-21T07:14:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T06:14:28","slug":"labour-has-failed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2026\/05\/21\/labour-has-failed\/","title":{"rendered":"Labour has failed"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the FT notes<\/a> this morning:<\/p>\n

Ed Miliband played a key role in advising Andy Burnham to commit to strict fiscal discipline if he becomes the UK\u2019s next prime minister, news that will fuel Labour Party speculation that the energy secretary is positioning himself as a future chancellor.<\/p>\n

Miliband has been offering economic advice to Burnham for some time and in recent days urged him to calm fears in the bond markets by backing the government\u2019s fiscal rules, according to people briefed on the discussions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I have three obvious reactions.<\/p>\n

First, this is deeply depressing. I know that the FT might be choosing its own framing, but I also suspect that there is deliberate positioning by those who provided the information to the FT to enable this story. The message they wanted to impart is that the so-called left of Labour now thinks it exists solely to keep the City of London happy, and will do all it can to do so.<\/p>\n

Second, so much for Andy Burnham as a supposed alternative leader of Labour in that case. As I have already been saying, he is nothing more than the chosen continuity candidate for Starmer who will maintain the neoliberal\/Zionist line that Mendelson and McSweeney, as the power brokers of the party, desire.<\/p>\n

Third, Ed Miliband's father would be ashamed of him. Ralph Miliband was a radical. Ed Miliband is anything but that.<\/p>\n

There is, however, some certainty that this story delivers. It confirms that there is no hope in Labour and no hope for it. There is no point in thinking otherwise. This is a party that has failed its ideals, its membership, the people of the UK, and which will, if they elect Andy Burnham, fail the people of Makerley just as badly as Reform will do.<\/p>\n

Let me, then, make the obvious point. We need a new political narrative, as much as we need a new economic narrative and without either, we have no hope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the FT notes this morning: Ed Miliband played a key role in advising Andy Burnham to commit to strict fiscal discipline if he becomes
 Read the full article…<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[204,35,118,224,106,223],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economic-justice","category-economics","category-labour","category-neoliberalism","category-politics","category-politics-of-care"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92441"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92442,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92441\/revisions\/92442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}