Ed Miliband: protected from the views of trade unionists and socialists, photo Paul Mattsson

Ed Miliband: protected from the views of trade unionists and socialists, photo Paul Mattsson   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Steve Score

The Labour Party leaders have repeatedly promised to continue this government’s policy of cuts. If pro-capitalist Labour wins the next election they guarantee we will face more public sector job losses and more reductions in services. Neither will there be any reversal of privatisation in public services.

This comes as no surprise, since these were exactly Labour’s policies last time they were in power. However, some people still hope that the leopard can change its spots and that the next Labour government will be different.

These hopes have been dashed yet again by Labour’s recent National Policy Forum. 198 members of the forum gathered to discuss ideas that may eventually make the basis for the election manifesto.

A small number of members tried to reverse a key proposal to stick to the Tories’ spending plans, but were defeated by 125 to 14.

Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls hailed the result with the soundbite that Labour stands for “big reform not big spending”. In reality they stand for big business not working class people.

Hot air

Since Blair, opposition parties have always claimed to come up with a new ‘big idea’ in the run up to a general election.

John Cruddas, head of the policy review, claims that it is a fundamental rethink and a “turning point in the history of the Labour Party”. This is so much hot air. They just want to find policies that don’t involve spending money.

Similarly, a move to commit Labour to the renationalisation of the railways, something overwhelmingly supported by the public, disappeared.

Instead they passed a policy that merely allows public sector organisations to compete with businesses for franchises, presumably by driving down staffing levels and cutting staff wages in an attempt to win the bid.

The National Policy Forum is not a democratic body that allows influence on policy from the membership, or from the trade unions. It reflects how the structures of the party have been rigged to ensure control from the top.

With one or two small exceptions, such as a small rise in the minimum wage and the (long overdue) promise to scrap the bedroom tax, Labour will continue the Tories’ policies. Even those small concessions will have to be paid for by other cuts.

That’s why we need to build the working class alternative that the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition is aiming for.


The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is an electoral alliance that stands candidates against all cuts and privatisation.

It involves the RMT transport workers’ union, leading members of other trade unions including the PCS, NUT and POA, and socialist groups including the Socialist Party.

In May 2014 TUSC stood 554 candidates, the largest left-of-Labour local election challenge for over 60 years.