Another World Is Possible
Updated: 37 weeks 2 days ago
Once and For All End the Link Between Labour and Dodgy Donations
All through the last week I have refused to comment on the latest donations scandal that has hit the Labour Party. I have declined all media approaches to comment because like most Labour Party members I couldn't believe that we were back into another dodgy donations episode and I was hoping that all the questions would be answered swiflty and the the issue put to rest.
That hasn't happened and we are now facing the prospect of another Police investigation into the activities of the party hierarchy.
So today I have written to the Prime Minister urging that he take immediate and decisive action to restore the confidence of the electorate in our party. I have asked him to make an early statement explaining that he is putting proposals to the Party's National Executive Committee which end the practice of receiving large scale donations from rich individuals once and for all. I have proposed to him that he announce a cap of a maximum of £1000 per annum is placed on donations from individuals.
I have suggested to the Prime Minister that if the introduction of this cap results in a budget shortfall for the party then any shortfall is made up by the determined rebuilding of our party membership, which has become so depleted over recent years.
We cannot ever again allow our party to be dragged through the media as a result of any untoward financial arrangements.
That hasn't happened and we are now facing the prospect of another Police investigation into the activities of the party hierarchy.
So today I have written to the Prime Minister urging that he take immediate and decisive action to restore the confidence of the electorate in our party. I have asked him to make an early statement explaining that he is putting proposals to the Party's National Executive Committee which end the practice of receiving large scale donations from rich individuals once and for all. I have proposed to him that he announce a cap of a maximum of £1000 per annum is placed on donations from individuals.
I have suggested to the Prime Minister that if the introduction of this cap results in a budget shortfall for the party then any shortfall is made up by the determined rebuilding of our party membership, which has become so depleted over recent years.
We cannot ever again allow our party to be dragged through the media as a result of any untoward financial arrangements.
Categories: Politics
Alert! New Housing Bill Sells Out Fourth Option.
After years of campaigning by the Defend Council Housing campaign and after securing overwhelming support at successive Labour Party conferences hopes were raised that the Government would at long last bring forward a housing bill which would tackle the housing crisis which has seen the number of homeless families double under New Labour since 1997.
The Labour Party conference policy is straightforward. It is the Fourth Option, allowing councils to access funds in the same way as housing associations so that councils can start building council houses again. This would enable us to launch the large scale housing programme that is desperately needed if we are to overcome the severe housing shortage which is causing such immense homelessness, overcrowding and the return of Rackman-like landlordism under the buy to let regime introduced by Gordon Brown.
Last night whilst many eyes were focussed on the latest party donations scandal the Housing Bill was debated in Parliament. The Government launched the Bill with a fanfare of claims announcing that we are to build 3 million new homes. Gordon Brown said in June "Councils will be able to build homes again."
This now looks as though it was just spin again. Our hopes have been dashed by the publication of the Government's new Bill. The Defend Council Housing Campaign has explained that the Bill means the Government will continue to discriminate against councils building new homes while offering public money to profit making private companies with little protection to either tenants or taxpayers. Profit making private landlords will be able to apply for social housing grants while councils cannot unless they set up arms length companies. At the same time councils will be pressurised to put public land into public/private partnerships that will build private not council housing. A new definition is also introduced for low cost housing which introduces for the first time in our history a means test for access to council housing.
Last night the Bill secured its second reading in the Commons only on the basis that backbench Labour MPs would be bringing forward amendments to the Bill which would reflect Labour party policy of supporting the Fourth option. The DCH campaign will be mobilising support in the Labour party, the trade unions, housing and tenants organisatiosn for the campaign to amend this bill, including a lobby of Parliament in the New Year. We all need urgently to get behind this campaign before it is too late and public housing is totally privatised. For further info look at the DCH website www.defendcouncilhousing.org.uk
The Labour Party conference policy is straightforward. It is the Fourth Option, allowing councils to access funds in the same way as housing associations so that councils can start building council houses again. This would enable us to launch the large scale housing programme that is desperately needed if we are to overcome the severe housing shortage which is causing such immense homelessness, overcrowding and the return of Rackman-like landlordism under the buy to let regime introduced by Gordon Brown.
Last night whilst many eyes were focussed on the latest party donations scandal the Housing Bill was debated in Parliament. The Government launched the Bill with a fanfare of claims announcing that we are to build 3 million new homes. Gordon Brown said in June "Councils will be able to build homes again."
This now looks as though it was just spin again. Our hopes have been dashed by the publication of the Government's new Bill. The Defend Council Housing Campaign has explained that the Bill means the Government will continue to discriminate against councils building new homes while offering public money to profit making private companies with little protection to either tenants or taxpayers. Profit making private landlords will be able to apply for social housing grants while councils cannot unless they set up arms length companies. At the same time councils will be pressurised to put public land into public/private partnerships that will build private not council housing. A new definition is also introduced for low cost housing which introduces for the first time in our history a means test for access to council housing.
Last night the Bill secured its second reading in the Commons only on the basis that backbench Labour MPs would be bringing forward amendments to the Bill which would reflect Labour party policy of supporting the Fourth option. The DCH campaign will be mobilising support in the Labour party, the trade unions, housing and tenants organisatiosn for the campaign to amend this bill, including a lobby of Parliament in the New Year. We all need urgently to get behind this campaign before it is too late and public housing is totally privatised. For further info look at the DCH website www.defendcouncilhousing.org.uk
Categories: Politics
Gordon Brown Should be Advised that Endless Publicity Relaunches Just Wont Work.
Another week and another relaunch of Gordon Brown. Someone needs to advise him that endless publicity relaunches just won't work. This week's relaunch is particularly ineffective as it completely undermines the green credentials he tried to establish with his environment speech last week. Backing expansion of Heathrow, promoting nuclear power and weakening our environmental planning controls patently contradict the commitment to tackling climate change he asserted in last week's relaunch as well as diverting resources away from much needed investment in alternative energy.
Categories: Politics
Heathrow Expansion: Climate Change Betrayal.
I have set out below the press release I have sent out this morning on the Government's decision to go ahead with the expansion of Heathrow airport. This isn't just a local issue for me as a local MP, it has national and global implications because it undermines the Government's proclaimed cimmitment to tackling climate change.
Press Release
Labour MP John McDonnell accuses Government Betrayal over Heathrow Expansion Plans
Labour MP, John McDonnell, whose constituency includes Heathrow airport, has accused the Government of betrayal over its announcement today that it will back a third runway and sixth terminal at Heathrow.
John said The Government has betrayed the communities that will be devastated by this massive expansion of Heathrow airport and betrayed all those who believed the Prime Minister’s promises this week to tackle climate change. The Government’s proposals go well beyond the plans set out in the original aviation white paper and will double the size of the airport. This will result in the forced clearance of up to 10.000 people from their homes with the demolition of whole communities, homes, schools, and churches. People feel betrayed on every count.
Betrayed because the Government promised a short runway, but they have now come forward with a full length runway with a sixth terminal wiping out even more homes and communities.
Betrayed because it has now been revealed that BAA has been allowed to dictate the Government’s drafting of the consultation paper. The credibility of the consultation document has been rendered laughable by the Government’s argument that a doubling of the size of the airport will have no impact on increasing air and noise pollution and climate change.
Betrayed because the consultation has been curtailed and fixed in advance by the Government is refusing to even have a consultation exhibition in Sipson, the very village they acknowledge will be demolished.
Betrayed because in the week Gordon Brown made his main speech on climate change his government announces an expansion of aviation which will undermine any attempt to meet emission reduction targets and is to introduce new planning legislation to prevent local people having an effective say in the planning process to determine this expansion proposal.
I warn the Government that it now faces against it the biggest environmental campaign that we have seen in our history, which will permanently destroy its environmental credentials.
Press Release
Labour MP John McDonnell accuses Government Betrayal over Heathrow Expansion Plans
Labour MP, John McDonnell, whose constituency includes Heathrow airport, has accused the Government of betrayal over its announcement today that it will back a third runway and sixth terminal at Heathrow.
John said The Government has betrayed the communities that will be devastated by this massive expansion of Heathrow airport and betrayed all those who believed the Prime Minister’s promises this week to tackle climate change. The Government’s proposals go well beyond the plans set out in the original aviation white paper and will double the size of the airport. This will result in the forced clearance of up to 10.000 people from their homes with the demolition of whole communities, homes, schools, and churches. People feel betrayed on every count.
Betrayed because the Government promised a short runway, but they have now come forward with a full length runway with a sixth terminal wiping out even more homes and communities.
Betrayed because it has now been revealed that BAA has been allowed to dictate the Government’s drafting of the consultation paper. The credibility of the consultation document has been rendered laughable by the Government’s argument that a doubling of the size of the airport will have no impact on increasing air and noise pollution and climate change.
Betrayed because the consultation has been curtailed and fixed in advance by the Government is refusing to even have a consultation exhibition in Sipson, the very village they acknowledge will be demolished.
Betrayed because in the week Gordon Brown made his main speech on climate change his government announces an expansion of aviation which will undermine any attempt to meet emission reduction targets and is to introduce new planning legislation to prevent local people having an effective say in the planning process to determine this expansion proposal.
I warn the Government that it now faces against it the biggest environmental campaign that we have seen in our history, which will permanently destroy its environmental credentials.
Categories: Politics
First Test of LRC Broad Front Strategy Comes this Week on Climate Change
Yesterday's LRC conference was an overwhelming success. About 250 delegates from Labour parties, trade unions and various campaigns came together in an open, lively democratic discussion about the role of the LRC in the coming period. There was a serious and honest analysis of the situation of the Left within the Labour Party, trade unions and outside of the party.
After a no punches pulled debate about the future role of the LRC, agreement was reached on the need for the LRC to work both within the Labour Party and outside the party to form a broad united front, campaigning issue by issue with all those who have a shared concern on these issues. This includes working in solidarity not just with organisations within the Labour and Trade Union movement but also linking with the social movements campaigning within the wider society.
The LRC's strategy statement, available on the LRC website, sets out this analysis of the current circumstances facing the Left and describes the principles of this broad front strategy.
An early test of this strategy will come this week. The media is full this weekend of the latest UN report on the rapid deterioration of the global environment under the impact of climate change. As usual the Brown administration has tried to spin its way out of real action by briefing the media that he may raise the UK target for reducing emissions by 2050. This would be laughable if it wasn't so serious.
In the week we receive the hard evidence that the plight of the world's environment is reaching desperation point Brown will launch on Thursday the consultation paper which commences the process of expanding Heathrow airport. This would in one simple action undermine all efforts and plans to reduce emissions in the UK by 2050.
What is worse is that we now learn that the British Airports Authority has been able to influence the evidence upon which the consultation paper has been drafted to try and convince us that a third runway and 6th terminal at Heathrow can go ahead without harming the environment.
The decision on Heathrow expansion is the issue which will determine whether any government or political party is serious about climate change. It will be the most significant and I predict the largest environmental battle over the next generation across all of Europe.
If the LRC is to be taken seriously on climate change and environmental issues more generally it will need to link up with all those within the Labour movement who are opposed to this expansion policy and as importantly with all those environment campaigning groups within our wider community. If a broad united front can be established on this critical issue I believe we can win in transforming the whole approach to environmental policy making in this country. Instead of allowing our environment to be polluted for profit, we could start the process of planning the preservation of our planet.
After a no punches pulled debate about the future role of the LRC, agreement was reached on the need for the LRC to work both within the Labour Party and outside the party to form a broad united front, campaigning issue by issue with all those who have a shared concern on these issues. This includes working in solidarity not just with organisations within the Labour and Trade Union movement but also linking with the social movements campaigning within the wider society.
The LRC's strategy statement, available on the LRC website, sets out this analysis of the current circumstances facing the Left and describes the principles of this broad front strategy.
An early test of this strategy will come this week. The media is full this weekend of the latest UN report on the rapid deterioration of the global environment under the impact of climate change. As usual the Brown administration has tried to spin its way out of real action by briefing the media that he may raise the UK target for reducing emissions by 2050. This would be laughable if it wasn't so serious.
In the week we receive the hard evidence that the plight of the world's environment is reaching desperation point Brown will launch on Thursday the consultation paper which commences the process of expanding Heathrow airport. This would in one simple action undermine all efforts and plans to reduce emissions in the UK by 2050.
What is worse is that we now learn that the British Airports Authority has been able to influence the evidence upon which the consultation paper has been drafted to try and convince us that a third runway and 6th terminal at Heathrow can go ahead without harming the environment.
The decision on Heathrow expansion is the issue which will determine whether any government or political party is serious about climate change. It will be the most significant and I predict the largest environmental battle over the next generation across all of Europe.
If the LRC is to be taken seriously on climate change and environmental issues more generally it will need to link up with all those within the Labour movement who are opposed to this expansion policy and as importantly with all those environment campaigning groups within our wider community. If a broad united front can be established on this critical issue I believe we can win in transforming the whole approach to environmental policy making in this country. Instead of allowing our environment to be polluted for profit, we could start the process of planning the preservation of our planet.
Categories: Politics
Contrast the Government's Support for Northern Rock with its Remploy Closure Programme
I have been out of action on the blogging front for the last week largely because of a heavy campaigning schedule in the run up to the LRC annual conference tomorrow but also because of an extensive range of activties in my constituency. I have established in Hayes a regular local community conference based upon a local network of grass roots local community groups, residents associations, trade unions and campaigning organisations. The aim is to transform the community conference into a community council, completely inclusive, open and fully representative of the local community. This aims to empower local people to take control of the future of our area rather tahn laeve it up to bureaucracies or developers.
Anyway one of the issues that has brought me back to the blog is the depth of anger I and others feel at the contrast between the Government's behaviour over recent days towards Remploy and Northern Rock.
Earlier this week Labour MPs were presented with the Remploy Board's revised proposals for a major closure programme of a large number of its factories, which employ workers with disabilities who are either unable to work in the private sector or are being prepared for return to mainstream employment. We are told that the Government is generously willing to support Remploy for the next three years at a cost of about £160 million a year in order to make the Remploy operation cost effective. £160 million may sound alot but it does not reflect the immense benefits Remploy provides workers with disabilities and their families by ensuring that they can work with dignity and alongside colleagues live a productive working life that would otherwise be denied them and which many of us take for granted.
In addition contrast the support for Remploy with the £22 billion shelled out to support Northern Rock. Most commentators estimate that this will reach £30 billion by Christmas. It is calculated that the Government is likely to lose £2 billion over the Northern Rock debacle.
When the Northern Rock crisis happened I along with others called upon the Government to bring it into public ownership. Some, including some Labour MPs, denounced this as out of date nationalisation looking back to the 1980s. In effect this is virtually what Alistair Darling did in using such large amounts of public money to prop the organisation up. He used taxpayers' funds to cover the risk but is preventing them gaining any benefits.Interestingly even the BBC's economics adviser on Newsnight this week suggested that it would have been cheaper for the Government to have brought Northern Rock into public ownership.
The one thing you can guarantee about the Brown government is that its neo liberal ideology will always override practical common sense policy making.
Anyway one of the issues that has brought me back to the blog is the depth of anger I and others feel at the contrast between the Government's behaviour over recent days towards Remploy and Northern Rock.
Earlier this week Labour MPs were presented with the Remploy Board's revised proposals for a major closure programme of a large number of its factories, which employ workers with disabilities who are either unable to work in the private sector or are being prepared for return to mainstream employment. We are told that the Government is generously willing to support Remploy for the next three years at a cost of about £160 million a year in order to make the Remploy operation cost effective. £160 million may sound alot but it does not reflect the immense benefits Remploy provides workers with disabilities and their families by ensuring that they can work with dignity and alongside colleagues live a productive working life that would otherwise be denied them and which many of us take for granted.
In addition contrast the support for Remploy with the £22 billion shelled out to support Northern Rock. Most commentators estimate that this will reach £30 billion by Christmas. It is calculated that the Government is likely to lose £2 billion over the Northern Rock debacle.
When the Northern Rock crisis happened I along with others called upon the Government to bring it into public ownership. Some, including some Labour MPs, denounced this as out of date nationalisation looking back to the 1980s. In effect this is virtually what Alistair Darling did in using such large amounts of public money to prop the organisation up. He used taxpayers' funds to cover the risk but is preventing them gaining any benefits.Interestingly even the BBC's economics adviser on Newsnight this week suggested that it would have been cheaper for the Government to have brought Northern Rock into public ownership.
The one thing you can guarantee about the Brown government is that its neo liberal ideology will always override practical common sense policy making.
Categories: Politics
Manchester health worker sacked for campaigning against cuts
Today, I issued the following press release:
Labour MP backs Manchester health worker Karen Reismann
Labour MP John McDonnell is seeking to raise Karen Reissman's case in Parliament to draw attention to the heavy handed attempt by the Manchester Mental Health Trust to silence Karen from speaking out to expose the implications of cuts in local services for patients.
John McDonnell said
"I believe that many Members of Parliament will be shocked at the heavy handed and bullying tactics being used by this health body to silence one of its critics from exposing the effect its cuts in services will mean for patients.
"That is why I am seeking to raise this issue in Parliament in the hope that the Health Trust will back off from trying to intimidate staff in this way."
Her sacking is an absolute disgrace. Karen is a community mental health nurse and a member of the Unison National Executive. Who benefits from her sacking? Certainly not the community she serves who rely on public service workers such as Karen who are prepared to defend the services they provide against cuts.
Credit must also go to Unison members in Manchester Mental Health Trust who voted 87.3% to go on strike in defence of Karen.
For more information, see the Unison website.
Labour MP backs Manchester health worker Karen Reismann
Labour MP John McDonnell is seeking to raise Karen Reissman's case in Parliament to draw attention to the heavy handed attempt by the Manchester Mental Health Trust to silence Karen from speaking out to expose the implications of cuts in local services for patients.
John McDonnell said
"I believe that many Members of Parliament will be shocked at the heavy handed and bullying tactics being used by this health body to silence one of its critics from exposing the effect its cuts in services will mean for patients.
"That is why I am seeking to raise this issue in Parliament in the hope that the Health Trust will back off from trying to intimidate staff in this way."
Her sacking is an absolute disgrace. Karen is a community mental health nurse and a member of the Unison National Executive. Who benefits from her sacking? Certainly not the community she serves who rely on public service workers such as Karen who are prepared to defend the services they provide against cuts.
Credit must also go to Unison members in Manchester Mental Health Trust who voted 87.3% to go on strike in defence of Karen.
For more information, see the Unison website.
Categories: Politics
Queen's Speech: Rehashed Mix of Neo Liberal Policies at Home and Neo Con Policies Abroad.
For long periods during Tony Blairs reign most progressives in and outside the Labour Party queried whether there was any light at the end of the tunnel. Many saw the arrival of Gordon Brown as that light. After todays first of Browns Queens Speeches all I can suggest is that you let your eyes get used to the dark.
This Queens Speech fails to provide any clear direction at a time when people are increasingly losing confidence in Labours ability to deliver the policies and public services they require. It will do nothing to lift the morale of Labour supporters and painfully we seem to be allowing ourselves to be out manoeuvred by second rate Tories.
Todays legislative programme comes across as an uninspiring, rehashed mix of neo liberal economic policies at home and neo con policies abroad which in no way addresses the underlying demand for change in our country.
At the next election Labour will largely be judged on our record of delivering public services that meet the real needs of our community. Continuing to dress up privatisation as public sector reform wont deliver the quality of public services we need and will continue to demoralise the public servants whose dedication we rely upon to achieve success. Unless the Labour leadership gets a grip people will increasingly lose hope in us both as a Government that understands the real world issues they face and also lose confidence in even our managerial ability to deliver.
This Queens Speech fails to provide any clear direction at a time when people are increasingly losing confidence in Labours ability to deliver the policies and public services they require. It will do nothing to lift the morale of Labour supporters and painfully we seem to be allowing ourselves to be out manoeuvred by second rate Tories.
Todays legislative programme comes across as an uninspiring, rehashed mix of neo liberal economic policies at home and neo con policies abroad which in no way addresses the underlying demand for change in our country.
At the next election Labour will largely be judged on our record of delivering public services that meet the real needs of our community. Continuing to dress up privatisation as public sector reform wont deliver the quality of public services we need and will continue to demoralise the public servants whose dedication we rely upon to achieve success. Unless the Labour leadership gets a grip people will increasingly lose hope in us both as a Government that understands the real world issues they face and also lose confidence in even our managerial ability to deliver.
Categories: Politics
British Based Mining Companies Ripping Up the Developing World
I hosted a meeting tonight in the House of Commons on behalf of the London Mining Network on the eve of the Annual General Meeting in London of one of the largest mining companies in the world, BHPBilliton.
I doubt if many have even heard of the Network or Billiton but I hope that the work of the Network will become increasingly familiar because I was moved tonight by the information the Network patiently and quietly laid before all of us attending the meeting.
The Network is an alliance of organisations like the Colombia Solidarity Campaign and Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links, which are campaigning to draw attention to the impact the world's major mining companies are having on the environment and on the lives of people in the developing world.
The Network had brought to London the trade union representatives of workers at the British owned Cerrejon mine in Colombia. Since the summer 2006 the unionised workers at the mine have been supporting the local small farming communities whose land has been taken by the mining company and who are demanding a collective resettlement to land of equal agricultural worth. Billiton is one of the companies owning the mine and so the union reps will be presenting their arguments to the company's AGM tomorrow. They have other issues to raise including their low pay, long working hours and basic health and safety.
The Colombian miners were joined by representatives of indigenous communities in the Philippines whose land is under threat from a nickel mining project being promoted by Billiton in an area which has recently beeen proclaimed as a wildlife sanctuary as well as a protected forest. There has been massive opposition to this project with one local councillor being shot dead by a security guard. Friends of the Earth Philippines has been instrumental in exposing this large scale environmental and humanitarian threat and in mobilising opposition to the mining plan.
I wish the Colombians and Philippinos success at tomorrow's AGM. To reinforce their message I will be laying an Early Day Motion in Parliament in the new session after the Queen's speech on 6th November and I will be pressing the Government to ensure that legislation is brought forward so that British mining companies or any mining company trading from Britain know that they cannot act with impunity in their operations in the Developing World.
I doubt if many have even heard of the Network or Billiton but I hope that the work of the Network will become increasingly familiar because I was moved tonight by the information the Network patiently and quietly laid before all of us attending the meeting.
The Network is an alliance of organisations like the Colombia Solidarity Campaign and Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links, which are campaigning to draw attention to the impact the world's major mining companies are having on the environment and on the lives of people in the developing world.
The Network had brought to London the trade union representatives of workers at the British owned Cerrejon mine in Colombia. Since the summer 2006 the unionised workers at the mine have been supporting the local small farming communities whose land has been taken by the mining company and who are demanding a collective resettlement to land of equal agricultural worth. Billiton is one of the companies owning the mine and so the union reps will be presenting their arguments to the company's AGM tomorrow. They have other issues to raise including their low pay, long working hours and basic health and safety.
The Colombian miners were joined by representatives of indigenous communities in the Philippines whose land is under threat from a nickel mining project being promoted by Billiton in an area which has recently beeen proclaimed as a wildlife sanctuary as well as a protected forest. There has been massive opposition to this project with one local councillor being shot dead by a security guard. Friends of the Earth Philippines has been instrumental in exposing this large scale environmental and humanitarian threat and in mobilising opposition to the mining plan.
I wish the Colombians and Philippinos success at tomorrow's AGM. To reinforce their message I will be laying an Early Day Motion in Parliament in the new session after the Queen's speech on 6th November and I will be pressing the Government to ensure that legislation is brought forward so that British mining companies or any mining company trading from Britain know that they cannot act with impunity in their operations in the Developing World.
Categories: Politics
Children's Homes - the Latest Target for Private Equity Firms
As a constituency MP and also someone who has worked in local government and for a time in social services I have taken an interest in care services. Most recently I have been raising concerns in my area about the care of the elderly. I have been particularly worried about what has happened to home care since it has been largely privatised and also residential care for the elderly which is now largely provided in private care homes.
However I don't know how but I missed it. Missed the fact that the role of looking after children taken into care by the state has largely been privatised over the last decade. In the Observer business section at the weekend I was shocked to read that 65% of children's homes are now in private hands. Earlier this month I discovered that fostering is now largely under the control of private fostering agencies.
With companies able to charge between £2000 and £4000 per child a week this sector of the welfare state has become an attractive opportunity for profitmaking by the private sector and in particular private equity companies which are always seeking new fields in which a lucrative profit can be made.
Recenty however one of the biggest players, Sedgemoor backed by the private equity company ECI, has gone into administration. This is only three years after its group gave a £20 million payout to its investors. Sedgemoor's childrens homes are now being sold off leading to uncertainties for the staff and for the future care arrangements of the children.
I don't know how we have allowed the care of the most vulnerable members of our society to be privatised and passed over to institutions whose main and overriding motivation is profitmaking.
The Chief Executive of the Adolescent and Children's Trust summed it all up for me when he said "Our concern with private equity firms moving into the sector is that their prime motivation is making a profit not the quality of service they provide. I think it is immoral to want to make money out of children living in care."
I couldn't agree more. I also think it is immoral for any Government to pursue policies which allow this to happen.
However I don't know how but I missed it. Missed the fact that the role of looking after children taken into care by the state has largely been privatised over the last decade. In the Observer business section at the weekend I was shocked to read that 65% of children's homes are now in private hands. Earlier this month I discovered that fostering is now largely under the control of private fostering agencies.
With companies able to charge between £2000 and £4000 per child a week this sector of the welfare state has become an attractive opportunity for profitmaking by the private sector and in particular private equity companies which are always seeking new fields in which a lucrative profit can be made.
Recenty however one of the biggest players, Sedgemoor backed by the private equity company ECI, has gone into administration. This is only three years after its group gave a £20 million payout to its investors. Sedgemoor's childrens homes are now being sold off leading to uncertainties for the staff and for the future care arrangements of the children.
I don't know how we have allowed the care of the most vulnerable members of our society to be privatised and passed over to institutions whose main and overriding motivation is profitmaking.
The Chief Executive of the Adolescent and Children's Trust summed it all up for me when he said "Our concern with private equity firms moving into the sector is that their prime motivation is making a profit not the quality of service they provide. I think it is immoral to want to make money out of children living in care."
I couldn't agree more. I also think it is immoral for any Government to pursue policies which allow this to happen.
Categories: Politics
If Brown needs a vision he needs to ignore Blair's warmongering and listen to the labour movement
Today was an eventful day in and around Parliament.
In Parliament, two private members' bills (the Temporary and Agency Workers Bill by Paul Farrelly MP and my Trade Union Rights and Freedoms Bill) were blocked by the Government. They are supported by every major trade union in the UK and by over 100 backbench Labour MPs. Still, the Government refuses to act. I am calling for the Government to bring forward legislation on both bills as part of the Queen's Speech.
Last night I spoke at a rally attended by over 500 people in the House of Commons to support the campaign for a Trade Union Freedom Bill where there was a real passion from the platform and the audience.
If the Government is looking for a vision, this would be a good start. If we are to reverse the inequality in our society, we need to empower people to fight for better pay, pensions and terms and conditions. I supported the open letter sent today to Gordon Brown calling for legislation to give agency workers equal treatment. The letter was signed by ten general secretaries and numerous Labour MPs.
Meanwhile outside Parliament, we witnessed the peace camp in Parliament Square again being harassed for peacefully protesting against the war and being the conscience of the building opposite. It's time the Mayor of London, Westminster Council, the Metropolitan Police and this Government started respecting the right to peacefully protest.
On the day when our ex-Prime Minister is fanning the flames of war with Iran (in a speech to a $1000 plate dinner in New York), I hope Gordon Brown has learned from the mistakes of his predecessor and it is still Government policy that an attack on Iran would be "inconceivable", as Jack Straw said earlier in the year.
Having unleashed bloodshed and mayhem in Iraq, a period of quiet reflection would be a more appropriate and welcome response from our ex-Leader.
In Parliament, two private members' bills (the Temporary and Agency Workers Bill by Paul Farrelly MP and my Trade Union Rights and Freedoms Bill) were blocked by the Government. They are supported by every major trade union in the UK and by over 100 backbench Labour MPs. Still, the Government refuses to act. I am calling for the Government to bring forward legislation on both bills as part of the Queen's Speech.
Last night I spoke at a rally attended by over 500 people in the House of Commons to support the campaign for a Trade Union Freedom Bill where there was a real passion from the platform and the audience.
If the Government is looking for a vision, this would be a good start. If we are to reverse the inequality in our society, we need to empower people to fight for better pay, pensions and terms and conditions. I supported the open letter sent today to Gordon Brown calling for legislation to give agency workers equal treatment. The letter was signed by ten general secretaries and numerous Labour MPs.
Meanwhile outside Parliament, we witnessed the peace camp in Parliament Square again being harassed for peacefully protesting against the war and being the conscience of the building opposite. It's time the Mayor of London, Westminster Council, the Metropolitan Police and this Government started respecting the right to peacefully protest.
On the day when our ex-Prime Minister is fanning the flames of war with Iran (in a speech to a $1000 plate dinner in New York), I hope Gordon Brown has learned from the mistakes of his predecessor and it is still Government policy that an attack on Iran would be "inconceivable", as Jack Straw said earlier in the year.
Having unleashed bloodshed and mayhem in Iraq, a period of quiet reflection would be a more appropriate and welcome response from our ex-Leader.
Categories: Politics
Government to Welcome Saudi King, Famed Dictator of Oppressive Regime.
Today I tabled an Early Day Motion in Parliament protesting at the upcoming state visit of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.
I tabled the motion because like many others I am angry that the Government will be paying the Saudi king a warm welcome while thousands of incarcerated Saudis face the most brutal forms of torture and the threat of public execution.
This is a dictatorship that allows no political parties, free elections, independent media or trade unions and deprives women and gays of their most basic rights.
The invitation to King Abdullah reflects the double standards of the British Government which talks about promoting human rights, but allows the economic interests of oil multinationals and the defence industry to dictate our foreign policy.
The full text of EDM 2102: State Visit of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia reads as follows:
“That this House notes with concern the state visit of King Abdullah bin Abdul Azaz al Saud of Saudi Arabia to the United Kingdom on 30th October 2007; believes that Saudi Arabia is one of the most repressive societies on earth, with no political parties, free elections, independent media or trade unions; views with alarm the systematic human rights abuses that exist within the Kingdom, such as the lack of basic rights for women, the practice of public beheadings and the repression of homosexuals; condemns the recent sale of 72 Eurofighters to such a barbaric regime; and calls upon the British Government to base its foreign policy towards Saudi Arabia on democracy and human rights rather than on narrow economic interests.”
I tabled the motion because like many others I am angry that the Government will be paying the Saudi king a warm welcome while thousands of incarcerated Saudis face the most brutal forms of torture and the threat of public execution.
This is a dictatorship that allows no political parties, free elections, independent media or trade unions and deprives women and gays of their most basic rights.
The invitation to King Abdullah reflects the double standards of the British Government which talks about promoting human rights, but allows the economic interests of oil multinationals and the defence industry to dictate our foreign policy.
The full text of EDM 2102: State Visit of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia reads as follows:
“That this House notes with concern the state visit of King Abdullah bin Abdul Azaz al Saud of Saudi Arabia to the United Kingdom on 30th October 2007; believes that Saudi Arabia is one of the most repressive societies on earth, with no political parties, free elections, independent media or trade unions; views with alarm the systematic human rights abuses that exist within the Kingdom, such as the lack of basic rights for women, the practice of public beheadings and the repression of homosexuals; condemns the recent sale of 72 Eurofighters to such a barbaric regime; and calls upon the British Government to base its foreign policy towards Saudi Arabia on democracy and human rights rather than on narrow economic interests.”
Categories: Politics
Brwon Must Intervene to Resolve Postal Services Industrial Dispute
On Moday I spoke at a packed rally of postal workers in Central Hall Westminster alongside Billy Hayes General Secretary of CWU, Tony Benn and Mark Serwatka from PCS in support of the postal workers strike action. It is clear that the union has co-operated throughout in working to secure a settlement to this dispute on the basis of a modern, effective postal service. Indeed it is the union that has over a number of years proposed investment plans for the improvement and extension of services to ensure that Royal Mail remains an effficient and competitive community service.
I am increasingly convinced that the management of Royal Mail is aiming to force through as part of this dispute a casualisation of the workforce, resulting in lower pay, longer hours and an erosion of pensions and working conditions. Management has already taken a "you'll do as I tell you, what I tell you and when I tell you" attitude to the workforce resulting in a series of spontaneous unofficial strikes across the country.
The Government has introduced legislation allowing a creeping privatisation of postal services.The private sector is able to cherry pick the most profitable contracts and ultimately undermine this essential community service. The management's response to this pressure is to seek cuts in wages and conditions - a race to the bottom.
However, the current dispute isn't just about wages and working conditions, it is also about the future of the postal service itself.
The Government owns the Royal Mail. It is the sole shareholder. That is why the responsibility falls on Gordon Brown's shoulders to intervene to resolve this dispute.
Yesterday I tabled an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons calling upon the Prime Minister to intervene. So far all he has done is call upon the CWU members to go back to work.
I think it is time the Prime Minister got to work on this issue. That is what leadership is all about.
I am increasingly convinced that the management of Royal Mail is aiming to force through as part of this dispute a casualisation of the workforce, resulting in lower pay, longer hours and an erosion of pensions and working conditions. Management has already taken a "you'll do as I tell you, what I tell you and when I tell you" attitude to the workforce resulting in a series of spontaneous unofficial strikes across the country.
The Government has introduced legislation allowing a creeping privatisation of postal services.The private sector is able to cherry pick the most profitable contracts and ultimately undermine this essential community service. The management's response to this pressure is to seek cuts in wages and conditions - a race to the bottom.
However, the current dispute isn't just about wages and working conditions, it is also about the future of the postal service itself.
The Government owns the Royal Mail. It is the sole shareholder. That is why the responsibility falls on Gordon Brown's shoulders to intervene to resolve this dispute.
Yesterday I tabled an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons calling upon the Prime Minister to intervene. So far all he has done is call upon the CWU members to go back to work.
I think it is time the Prime Minister got to work on this issue. That is what leadership is all about.
Categories: Politics
First Response to Pre Budget Report.
This is the first response to the Government's Pre Budget Report I put out yesterday afternoon and which appears on the New Statesman's online edition. A further article should appear on the Guardian's Comment is Free website early this morning. My overall theme is that I can't see what the Government's agenda is for the future except shadowing the Tories and continuing with the neo liberal consensus.
New Statesman Online Published 09 October 2007
Mixed reactions to Alistair Darling's first Pre-Budget Report from John McDonnell, Martin Salter, Jo Swinson, Derek Wall and Frank Field
We asked UK politicians with a variety of perspectives to react to Alistair Darling's first Pre-Budget Report
John McDonnell, former Labour leadership hopeful and MP for Hayes and Harlington
Electioneering for an election that never happened dominated both the Chancellor’s pre-budget statement and the Tories’ response. The knockabout farce that comprised the debate had less to do with real needs of our community and more to do with political positioning by the Government in response to the Tories' party conference policy announcements.
The good news is that after the vigorous campaign by trade unions and tax justice groups for the past two years to end the tax loopholes being exploited by private equity companies, the Government has at long last taken action. The bad news is that the Government has bottled it when it comes to addressing similar tax avoidance by mega rich non-domiciles. Instead of action after four years of a Treasury review the best the Chancellor can offer is yet another consultation with proposals to let the rich off the hook yet again..
Inequality is still the elephant in the room, and there was nothing in these statements which will effectively tackle poverty or reduce inequality.
New Statesman Online Published 09 October 2007
Mixed reactions to Alistair Darling's first Pre-Budget Report from John McDonnell, Martin Salter, Jo Swinson, Derek Wall and Frank Field
We asked UK politicians with a variety of perspectives to react to Alistair Darling's first Pre-Budget Report
John McDonnell, former Labour leadership hopeful and MP for Hayes and Harlington
Electioneering for an election that never happened dominated both the Chancellor’s pre-budget statement and the Tories’ response. The knockabout farce that comprised the debate had less to do with real needs of our community and more to do with political positioning by the Government in response to the Tories' party conference policy announcements.
The good news is that after the vigorous campaign by trade unions and tax justice groups for the past two years to end the tax loopholes being exploited by private equity companies, the Government has at long last taken action. The bad news is that the Government has bottled it when it comes to addressing similar tax avoidance by mega rich non-domiciles. Instead of action after four years of a Treasury review the best the Chancellor can offer is yet another consultation with proposals to let the rich off the hook yet again..
Inequality is still the elephant in the room, and there was nothing in these statements which will effectively tackle poverty or reduce inequality.
Categories: Politics
General Election Fiasco: Squandering People's Goodwill.
Just for the record this is what I said yesterday as the general election story unfolded.
In the morning I sent out the following press release.
Later that afternoon when the BBC reported that Gordon Brown had briefed them that the election was off I sent out a response set out below.
You can see I just thought what a mess. Gordon Brown promised change but we are back to spin and a continuation of the same policies. As many of us predicted we are sleepwalking towards a Tory government if there isnt real change in both policies and also in the attitude towards democracy and how we govern. The only way forward is to demonstrate real change by withdrawing from Iraq, ending privatisation, tacking inequality and restoring civil liberties and rights, and reasserting democracy in both our party and in our country. If we do this people may start trusting a Labour government again
Press Release issued Saturday morning:
As time Labour MP, John McDonnell, Accuses Brown Team of Presenting the Tories with an Open Goal.
John McDonnell Labour MP and former candidate for the Labour leadership commented today that many in the Labour Party were losing patience at the inept handling of the election issue by the inexperienced Brown team, accusing them of squandering the peoples goodwill during the Brown honeymoon period and presenting the Tories with an open goal.
John said “As a result of weeks of inept tactical gameplaying by Brown's inexperienced team we have reached a point where the Prime Minister either calls an election in the face of volatile polls and unnecessarily risks a Labour Government or backs down and looks both opportunist and weak.Just when the weakness of the Tories could have been consolidated, the Prime Minister and his team of political testosterone-filled young men have presented the Tories with an open goal and offered them a chance of revival.Confidence in a leader and a government once lost are almost impossible to regain. The incompetent handling of the last few weeks by the Brown team has squandered the good will people felt towards Labour as a result of Tony Blair going.It is time to just get back to serving the people and governing the country.”
Press Release two issued Saturday afternoon:
Labour MP and former Labour Leadership Candidate, John McDonnell, describes the Prime Minister’s Election Climbdown as an utter Fiasco
John McDonnell MP said This climbdown is an utter fiasco. After weeks of political gameplaying by the inexperienced, testosterone fuelled young men in Browns team we have presented the Tories with an own goal, making a Labour leader look weak and re-associating the party with spin. The incompetent handling of the last few weeks has squandered the good will the people of this country felt towards Labour as a result of Tony Blair going. It is time to get back to serving the people and governing the country.
In the morning I sent out the following press release.
Later that afternoon when the BBC reported that Gordon Brown had briefed them that the election was off I sent out a response set out below.
You can see I just thought what a mess. Gordon Brown promised change but we are back to spin and a continuation of the same policies. As many of us predicted we are sleepwalking towards a Tory government if there isnt real change in both policies and also in the attitude towards democracy and how we govern. The only way forward is to demonstrate real change by withdrawing from Iraq, ending privatisation, tacking inequality and restoring civil liberties and rights, and reasserting democracy in both our party and in our country. If we do this people may start trusting a Labour government again
Press Release issued Saturday morning:
As time Labour MP, John McDonnell, Accuses Brown Team of Presenting the Tories with an Open Goal.
John McDonnell Labour MP and former candidate for the Labour leadership commented today that many in the Labour Party were losing patience at the inept handling of the election issue by the inexperienced Brown team, accusing them of squandering the peoples goodwill during the Brown honeymoon period and presenting the Tories with an open goal.
John said “As a result of weeks of inept tactical gameplaying by Brown's inexperienced team we have reached a point where the Prime Minister either calls an election in the face of volatile polls and unnecessarily risks a Labour Government or backs down and looks both opportunist and weak.Just when the weakness of the Tories could have been consolidated, the Prime Minister and his team of political testosterone-filled young men have presented the Tories with an open goal and offered them a chance of revival.Confidence in a leader and a government once lost are almost impossible to regain. The incompetent handling of the last few weeks by the Brown team has squandered the good will people felt towards Labour as a result of Tony Blair going.It is time to just get back to serving the people and governing the country.”
Press Release two issued Saturday afternoon:
Labour MP and former Labour Leadership Candidate, John McDonnell, describes the Prime Minister’s Election Climbdown as an utter Fiasco
John McDonnell MP said This climbdown is an utter fiasco. After weeks of political gameplaying by the inexperienced, testosterone fuelled young men in Browns team we have presented the Tories with an own goal, making a Labour leader look weak and re-associating the party with spin. The incompetent handling of the last few weeks has squandered the good will the people of this country felt towards Labour as a result of Tony Blair going. It is time to get back to serving the people and governing the country.
Categories: Politics
As We Wait for the PM's Decision on an Unnecessary Election, the Business of Privatising under Brown Goes on as Usual.
Whilst the media is all consumed with whether Gordon Brown is about to risk a Labour Government with an unnecessary election, government policy rolls on as usual.For those who supported Brown because they thought that there would be a change in direction two largely unnoticed stories of the policy roll out under Brown remind us that the business of New Labour neo liberal politics goes on as normal.
Yesterday RMT published an analysis of the tax avoidance being used to boost the profits of the privatised railway companies. The research exposed that the private rail industry profits from £1.3 billion in unpaid tax and that these companies are using deferred-tax loopholes to fund a leap in dividends to their shareholders. RMT revealed that nearly half of the £1.5 billion in dividends paid out in the last five years by nine private train operators and rolling-stock companies has been funded by unpaid tax, according to a detailed analysis for RMT by tax expert Richard Murphy of Tax Research.
Richard Murphy confirmed that almost £1.3 billion of deferred tax is owed by the biggest six train-operating companies (Tocs) and the three rolling-stock leasing companies (Roscos) - but this is tax that will most likely never be paid, and is effectively a hidden subsidy that dramatically increases cash profit levels.The report shows that the nine companies declared profits almost doubled from £435 million in 2002 to £810 million in 2006, but their declared tax charges remained almost constant at about £190 million a year throughout the period. The declared percentage rate fell from 43 per cent in 2002 to 24 per cent in 2006.
If people were also looking forward to Brown pulling back on the privatisation agenda they will also be disappointed to hear that Alan Johnson has announced this week that £70 billion worth of new contracts for the management and commissioning of NHS services are to be put out to the private sector.What this means in my area is that BUPA is being given half a million pound contract to vet whether a patient really needs the operation at the local hospital that their consultant has recommended. If BUPA says no they get a cut of the money saved from the operation not going ahead. And oh yes, if the patient is unhappy, then there is always a BUPA hospital on hand to offer the operation at a price. UNISON has expresed the union's concerns at this latest round of privatisation and profiteering from the NHS.
Who did the UNISON leadership insist on backing for Labour leader?
Of course, Gordon Brown, the architect of this policy. As someone once said "It's a funny old world." Not so funny though for the patients who will not receive their treatment and the UNISON members whose jobs are being privatised by this latest round of sell offs under Brown.
Yesterday RMT published an analysis of the tax avoidance being used to boost the profits of the privatised railway companies. The research exposed that the private rail industry profits from £1.3 billion in unpaid tax and that these companies are using deferred-tax loopholes to fund a leap in dividends to their shareholders. RMT revealed that nearly half of the £1.5 billion in dividends paid out in the last five years by nine private train operators and rolling-stock companies has been funded by unpaid tax, according to a detailed analysis for RMT by tax expert Richard Murphy of Tax Research.
Richard Murphy confirmed that almost £1.3 billion of deferred tax is owed by the biggest six train-operating companies (Tocs) and the three rolling-stock leasing companies (Roscos) - but this is tax that will most likely never be paid, and is effectively a hidden subsidy that dramatically increases cash profit levels.The report shows that the nine companies declared profits almost doubled from £435 million in 2002 to £810 million in 2006, but their declared tax charges remained almost constant at about £190 million a year throughout the period. The declared percentage rate fell from 43 per cent in 2002 to 24 per cent in 2006.
If people were also looking forward to Brown pulling back on the privatisation agenda they will also be disappointed to hear that Alan Johnson has announced this week that £70 billion worth of new contracts for the management and commissioning of NHS services are to be put out to the private sector.What this means in my area is that BUPA is being given half a million pound contract to vet whether a patient really needs the operation at the local hospital that their consultant has recommended. If BUPA says no they get a cut of the money saved from the operation not going ahead. And oh yes, if the patient is unhappy, then there is always a BUPA hospital on hand to offer the operation at a price. UNISON has expresed the union's concerns at this latest round of privatisation and profiteering from the NHS.
Who did the UNISON leadership insist on backing for Labour leader?
Of course, Gordon Brown, the architect of this policy. As someone once said "It's a funny old world." Not so funny though for the patients who will not receive their treatment and the UNISON members whose jobs are being privatised by this latest round of sell offs under Brown.
Categories: Politics
Hypeing up an Early Election Just Presents the Tories with an Open Goal.
From early September through the TUC and on to the Labour Party conference it must have seemed to Gordon Brown, but more importantly to his acolytes, that they were infallible, could do no wrong when it came to political gameplaying. And why not? The polls told them so.
So what better than to hype up the possibility of an imminent general election to wrongfoot the Tories. When the political tetosterone filled young men surrounding Gordon Brown sped round the Labour party conference briefing the media on the potential dates for an election in November it must have seemed such fun.
Unfortunately some of them started believing their own propaganda on their omniscient political talent and became turboed up for an immediate election. As a result the prospect of a general election gained an almost unstoppable momentum of its own.
The next week was filled with a public relations strategy which was little more than a crude political painting by numbers. The headlong rush of policy announcement after policy announcement on everything from Crossrail to Adazi's health proposals was rather obvious. The Prime Minister's timely trip to Iraq during Tory Party conference risked being interpreted as political opportunism but was overshadowed by the bizarre spinning of the scale of the planned troop withdrawal which became reminiscent of dodgy dossier calculations.
The Tories reacted in the only way that they could -" Bring it on!"
As a result of this inept tactical posturing by Brown's inexperienced team we have reached a point where the Prime Minister either calls an election in the face of volatile polls and unecessarily risks a Labour Government or backs down and looks both opportunist and weak.
Just when the weakness of the Tories could have been consolidated the Prime Minister and his team of arrogant young men have presented them with an open goal and offered them a chance of revival.
Confidence in a leader and a government once lost are almost impossible to regain. The inept handling of the last few weeks by the Brown team has jeopardised the good will people felt towards Labour as a result of Tony Blair going.
It is time to just get back to serving the people and governing the country.
So what better than to hype up the possibility of an imminent general election to wrongfoot the Tories. When the political tetosterone filled young men surrounding Gordon Brown sped round the Labour party conference briefing the media on the potential dates for an election in November it must have seemed such fun.
Unfortunately some of them started believing their own propaganda on their omniscient political talent and became turboed up for an immediate election. As a result the prospect of a general election gained an almost unstoppable momentum of its own.
The next week was filled with a public relations strategy which was little more than a crude political painting by numbers. The headlong rush of policy announcement after policy announcement on everything from Crossrail to Adazi's health proposals was rather obvious. The Prime Minister's timely trip to Iraq during Tory Party conference risked being interpreted as political opportunism but was overshadowed by the bizarre spinning of the scale of the planned troop withdrawal which became reminiscent of dodgy dossier calculations.
The Tories reacted in the only way that they could -" Bring it on!"
As a result of this inept tactical posturing by Brown's inexperienced team we have reached a point where the Prime Minister either calls an election in the face of volatile polls and unecessarily risks a Labour Government or backs down and looks both opportunist and weak.
Just when the weakness of the Tories could have been consolidated the Prime Minister and his team of arrogant young men have presented them with an open goal and offered them a chance of revival.
Confidence in a leader and a government once lost are almost impossible to regain. The inept handling of the last few weeks by the Brown team has jeopardised the good will people felt towards Labour as a result of Tony Blair going.
It is time to just get back to serving the people and governing the country.
Categories: Politics
New Routes for the Left Emerging
After the events at the TUC and the Labour Party conference it is time for the Left to take a hard nosed look at where we go from here. First of all we have to face up to the harsh realities of the new political world in which we are operating.
The historical path of the Left stems from working people coming together in the workplace and discovering their strength through solidarity. Nourished by socialist ideas they recognised that if they wanted to exercise power beyond the workplace they needed political representation and so the Labour party was born. Democratic party structures were established to develop the policy programmes to be implemented when power was achieved.
This week's vote to close down democratic decision making at the Labour party conference and Gordon Brown's first leader's speech demonstrated that the old strategy is largely over. The conference is now virtually irrelevant and its replacement, the National Policy Forum, is a behind closed doors exercise of centralised control of party policymaking.
Brown's speeches at both the TUC and Labour conference demonstrated decisively how much he fundamentally believes in the principles of neo liberalism - the dominance of the market, flexible labour and privatisation. Even if there was the potential to use what is left of the party's structures to attempt to influence him, it is clear that the overall political direction of the Brown government is non negotiable.
The Left has the difficult task of accepting and explaining to others that the old routes into the exercise of power and influence involving internal Labour Party mobilisations and manoeuvres have largely been closed down. We have to face up to the challenge of identifying and developing new routes into effective political activity.
The contradiction is that the more undemocratic the Labour Party becomes the more it cuts itself off from the real world at a time when new social movements are emerging. People may be increasingly giving up on political parties but they haven't given up on politics. They still want to challenge the injustices they meet in our society and they are devising a multitude of mechanisms to do so from indy media and climate camps to affinity groups organising direct action.
New social movements have mobilised on a vast array of issues ranging from climate change, asylum rights, to housing and arms sales. Many trade unions have also rediscovered their roots as social movements themselves in their new campaigns on everything from private equity to the exploitation of migrant workers. New alliances are being forged and where trade union leaderships have been incorporated as supporters of the status quo, rank and file activity within their unions is re-emerging and organising.
The difficult task for the Left now is to appreciate that new strategies, new coalitions of forces and above all else a new dynamism are needed to deal with the new political environment where the traditional routes have been so narrowed. The Left needs to open itself to co-operation with progressive campaigns within our community, learning from them, treating them with mutual respect, rejecting any patronising or sectarian approach, and where needed to serve as the catalyst to instigate and facilitate campaigning activity. Creativity is also needed to stimulate the analysis, debate and discussion of the ideas and principles which we may share in our wish to transform our society.
The main political parties are increasingly seen as irrelevant to the real world issues facing our communities resulting in declining participation rates and election turnouts and deepening scepticism. This doesn't mean people are apathetic. Far from it. There is a growing radical nature to our times and an opportunity for a period of exciting, frenetic activity capable of creating a climate of progressive hegemony which no government could immunise itself from no matter how ruthlessly it closes down democracy in its own party.
This article first appeared in the Morning Star.
Categories: Politics
Labour's Conference Now Little More Than a Trade Fair.
This article by me appears in today's Guardian Comment is Free and sums up my experience of the Labour Party Conference this year.
Business, as usual
Labour 07: This year's event proves it: the moneylenders really have taken over the temple.
Under the strapline "Our conference can provide an exciting place to do business", there was a revealing pie chart in the Labour party's conference guide that gave a breakdown of who now attends the annual gathering.
It is: 10% elected representatives, 20% media, 30% Labour party delegates and visitors, and - top of the list - 40% from the commercial and corporate sector.
So when Gordon Brown and his ministers received their standing ovations, the largest group clapping was the companies looking forward to doing business with this government.
Now that biblical references are de rigueur in the party, it seemed to many that the moneylenders really had taken over the temple.
The rule changes bounced through the conference this week removing the right of Labour members to determine the party's policies at the conference mean the event is now little more than a trade fair and media platform for speeches from the leader and ministers.
And it takes a remarkable feat of ingratiating contortion to consider Gordon Brown's first leader's speech as setting "a new tone" and offering "the possibility of a different kind of Labour government", as Jon Cruddas and others have claimed.
While warm words of praise were bestowed on the NHS and public servants, outside in the real world we learned that in order to save the budgets of some primary care trusts, Bupa was to vet whether patients should or should not receive the treatment recommended by their consultants. Bupa will be paid from the savings made by preventing operations.
Similarly, at an almost surreal fringe meeting at the conference, we heard from the government's adviser on welfare reform, the obviously suitably qualified venture capitalist David Freud, that a similar principle was to be applied to getting people off benefit and into work. While 40,000 jobs are to be cut at the Department for Work and Pensions, private sector companies are to be given the role of forcing the long-term unemployed into work. The firms will make their profits from the benefits saved.
Meanwhile, despite the declaration of a new social housing programme, behind the scenes immense pressure was being applied to delegates to ensure that what was possibly the last resolution ever to be debated at a Labour party conference actually reversed existing conference policy, which calls for councils to be treated fairly in the distribution of resources for building houses.
On the morning we hear of the children of eastern European migrants being racially abused on our streets, how does Gordon Brown's slogan of "British jobs for British workers" sit with those urging "a more positive message on migration"?
Playing tactical games over the timing of the election also reflects an approach to politics where policies are too often determined for party advantage, and even the stability of the government is risked for the same reason.
Caution suggests current poll leads result more from a combined sense of relief at Blair going and the rejection of an incompetent, passé alternative than they do from a belief in the government being committed to real change. John Major and 1992 come to mind.
The scenes of Buddhist monks in Burma losing their lives in a struggle for democracy are a stark reminder that democratic politics should be about more than developing subtler forms of spin and party game-playing.
Business, as usual
Labour 07: This year's event proves it: the moneylenders really have taken over the temple.
Under the strapline "Our conference can provide an exciting place to do business", there was a revealing pie chart in the Labour party's conference guide that gave a breakdown of who now attends the annual gathering.
It is: 10% elected representatives, 20% media, 30% Labour party delegates and visitors, and - top of the list - 40% from the commercial and corporate sector.
So when Gordon Brown and his ministers received their standing ovations, the largest group clapping was the companies looking forward to doing business with this government.
Now that biblical references are de rigueur in the party, it seemed to many that the moneylenders really had taken over the temple.
The rule changes bounced through the conference this week removing the right of Labour members to determine the party's policies at the conference mean the event is now little more than a trade fair and media platform for speeches from the leader and ministers.
And it takes a remarkable feat of ingratiating contortion to consider Gordon Brown's first leader's speech as setting "a new tone" and offering "the possibility of a different kind of Labour government", as Jon Cruddas and others have claimed.
While warm words of praise were bestowed on the NHS and public servants, outside in the real world we learned that in order to save the budgets of some primary care trusts, Bupa was to vet whether patients should or should not receive the treatment recommended by their consultants. Bupa will be paid from the savings made by preventing operations.
Similarly, at an almost surreal fringe meeting at the conference, we heard from the government's adviser on welfare reform, the obviously suitably qualified venture capitalist David Freud, that a similar principle was to be applied to getting people off benefit and into work. While 40,000 jobs are to be cut at the Department for Work and Pensions, private sector companies are to be given the role of forcing the long-term unemployed into work. The firms will make their profits from the benefits saved.
Meanwhile, despite the declaration of a new social housing programme, behind the scenes immense pressure was being applied to delegates to ensure that what was possibly the last resolution ever to be debated at a Labour party conference actually reversed existing conference policy, which calls for councils to be treated fairly in the distribution of resources for building houses.
On the morning we hear of the children of eastern European migrants being racially abused on our streets, how does Gordon Brown's slogan of "British jobs for British workers" sit with those urging "a more positive message on migration"?
Playing tactical games over the timing of the election also reflects an approach to politics where policies are too often determined for party advantage, and even the stability of the government is risked for the same reason.
Caution suggests current poll leads result more from a combined sense of relief at Blair going and the rejection of an incompetent, passé alternative than they do from a belief in the government being committed to real change. John Major and 1992 come to mind.
The scenes of Buddhist monks in Burma losing their lives in a struggle for democracy are a stark reminder that democratic politics should be about more than developing subtler forms of spin and party game-playing.
Categories: Politics
Windfall Tax the Speculators Profiteering from Northern Rock
Today I called upon the Prime Minister to impose an immediate windfall tax on speculators profiteering from the Northern Rock crisis and to launch a public inquiry as it is revealed that speculators made huge gains in profiteering from the crisis and that Northern Rock had set up “Granite Companies” to put the protection of City financiers before the protection of its customers.
The whole Northern Rock saga stinks to high heaven. It is estimated city traders have made £1billion in profits from “bear raids” on Northern Rock. Added to this the renowned tax expert, Richard Murphy from Tax Research, has revealed that Northern Rock had established what it sarcastically called “Granite” Companies in which funds were placed to ensure that in the event of any financial turbulence the City would be protected ahead of Northern Rock’s own customers. Plus we have today’s exposure that the Rock’s board has paid itself £30 million over the last five years. This all adds up to the need for an immediate windfall tax on the speculators profiteering from this crisis and for a full and independent inquiry into the role of the Government, Bank of England and FSA in turning a blind eye to city excesses for so long.
The whole Northern Rock saga stinks to high heaven. It is estimated city traders have made £1billion in profits from “bear raids” on Northern Rock. Added to this the renowned tax expert, Richard Murphy from Tax Research, has revealed that Northern Rock had established what it sarcastically called “Granite” Companies in which funds were placed to ensure that in the event of any financial turbulence the City would be protected ahead of Northern Rock’s own customers. Plus we have today’s exposure that the Rock’s board has paid itself £30 million over the last five years. This all adds up to the need for an immediate windfall tax on the speculators profiteering from this crisis and for a full and independent inquiry into the role of the Government, Bank of England and FSA in turning a blind eye to city excesses for so long.
Categories: Politics
