The Con-Dems are the most unpopular government in living memory. They crush the poor and force-feed the rich. Suicides of people unable to cope with miserly benefits are increasing. Yet Labour’s lead limps between 1% and 4%. Why?
The would-be political assassins of Ed Miliband are condemned by Labour worthies like Hain and Blunkett, who say Ed should get on the doorstep to project Labour’s policies.
If he did it would go like this: ‘Vote for me and I’ll maintain the Con-Dem spending cap; vote for me and I’ll maintain the public sector wage freeze; the privatised utilities will remain in private hands; the Health Care Act will be repealed but there’s little I can do about the privatisation of the NHS. Vote for me and I’ll be tougher with the unemployed than the Con-Dems; and I’ll maintain the most vicious anti-trade union laws in Western Europe.’
Ed’s problem is not that he looks silly eating a sandwich, but that Labour offers a continuation of austerity not fundamentally different to the Con-Dems.
Those socialists who remain with Labour should now put their energies into building a new mass party of the working class, spearheaded by TUSC, so offering a clear socialist alternative to the electorate.