As the election approaches, the argument for the dumbing down of
television appears in the form of hollow sound bites and mildly amusing slogans.
Whilst Tony Blair told voters in his 2001 election campaign, to the tune of the
Cat Stevens original, that ‘The First Cut is the Deepest’, the benefit of
hindsight may leave us wondering just how deep subsequent wounds may be to the
Iraqi civilians, British students, travellers, asylum seekers and many others.
So when New Labour start spinning the catchy slogans, it would be
wise to remove those rose, and certainly not red, tinted glasses and take a
closer look. This time around we’re offered the promise of ‘Britain forward, not
backward’. And just to illustrate the fact that he has no reverse gear, Blair
has made us six pledges, to ‘ensure a better life for you and your family’. But
what lies behind the smiles and the spiel, the grins and gesticulations? Here I
hope not simply to offer exposition and criticism, but provide an alternative:
six pledges to ensure a better world.
Your family better off:
It would be a mistake to lay nothing but criticism at New
Labour’s door. Since coming to power in 1997, the government has made a number
of improvements, such as the minimum wage and working families tax credits, that
have lived up to their pledge to ensure that many families are better off.
Nevertheless Blair’s removal of clause four was the final nail in the coffin for
a socialist Labour party, and it should come as little surprise that they have
failed to close the increasingly large gap between rich and poor that was so
greatly accentuated during the Thatcher years.
Short of smashing up the state and forcibly appropriating the
means of production, which really does leave us yearning for a clause four, we’d
have to look to progressive redistributive policies. It goes without saying that
higher rates of income tax for top earners to fund further reaching welfare
reforms, and a solid increase in the minimum wage would be welcome policies.
Council tax needs to go the way of poll tax and be scrapped, to be replaced by
progressive local income tax. But then even the Liberal Democrats could say that
much! The real unfair tax is value added tax! VAT hits everyone
indiscriminately, which may be of little consequence to those with higher
incomes, but can mean a great deal to families struggling to survive on a
minimum wage income. Socialist parties should make lower rates of VAT a priority
in their policies on taxation. The tax on fuel is perhaps one of the most unfair
taxes of all, drastically increasing the cost for working class families who
need to commute to work and school on a daily basis. Whilst environmentalists
are correct in pointing out the dangers of greenhouse gas emissions posed by
having increasing numbers of cars on the roads, continually raising taxes on
fuel is not the way to tackle this. Instead investing in green fuel sources and
improving public transport, including re-nationalisation, is necessary. Perhaps
then we may begin to close the gap between rich and poor.
Your child achieving more:
Tony Blair’s pledges to improve primary and secondary education
are more than welcome. This pledge for achievement in education is, however, at
odds with government policies on higher education, which threaten to break the
backs of undergraduate students. Whilst New Labour wants to increase the number
of people going on to university, the removal of student grants and the
introduction of tuition fees, and soon top-up fees, are discouraging students
from lower income backgrounds from applying to universities. As it stands
students face leaving university over £9,000 in debt, and this could double with
the introduction of top-up fees.
If government money can be found to launch an immoral and
disastrous war and occupation in Iraq, then it can be found to increase funding
for universities without placing an increasingly heavy burden upon students. All
student fees should be scrapped and means-tested grants should be restored. The
government must invest in the future of students at all levels, who may then in
turn invest in the future of society as a whole. Moreover a more egalitarian
policy on higher education, in encouraging working class students to go to
university, is essential to promote social mobility and add some substance to
the claim that Britain is a meritocracy.
Your children with the best start:
No doubt the best start for children is a laudable aim, but it is
of little consequence if they end up being served with an anti social behaviour
order. For those who live in areas high in crime, and who have experienced
violent or abusive behaviour from young teenagers, it may be difficult to see
any reason for opposing ASBOs. However they little more use than pain killers
are to a terminally ill patient. They are a short term solution to a much wider
problem.
If the government wishes to provide children from deprived
backgrounds with the best start, and help them avoid an ASBO, then they would be
wise to look to the conditions that breed youth crime. Tough on youth crime,
tough on the causes of youth crime! Issues of deprivation need to be addressed.
In the short term, more entertainment facilities need to be provided for young
people, and comprehensive education in areas of greater poverty needs to be
improved. In the long term, redistributive measures need to be taken to ensure a
more egalitarian society with greater social mobility, so that all children are
able to be provided with the best start possible.
Your family treated better and faster:
Will this be the result of the introduction of
foundation hospitals? Only time can tell here, but it would be wise to approach
this issue with caution. Whilst the government insists that foundation hospitals
represent greater freedom and democracy, it wouldn’t be the first time those
words have been used to legitimise decisions with terrible consequences. Whilst
not directly opening the door to privatisation, foundation hospitals do
potentially represent an uncomfortable precedent, and raise fears of a two-tear
health service that would undermine aims to treat patients better and faster on
a universal level.
Mussolini may have been a fascist, but at least
he got the trains to run on time. That is one comparison at least that cannot be
made between him and Thatcher! As the legacy of her government showed,
privatisation and the rule of market forces does not necessarily equate to
efficiency. Therefore we should resist the involvement of private capital in
public services, the National Health Service especially! It is important to
maintain and increase investment in healthcare, to reduce waiting lists and
improve care, but this should remain publicly funded. All people, no matter what
their income, should have equal access to the best health care available. And
since not everyone can afford to go private, the public should be improved, most
significantly in deprived areas where people have the poorest access to good
healthcare.
Your community safer:
A pledge that, no doubt, would be welcomed by
many, with promises to tackle crime, gangs and graffiti. But whose community
does New Labour want to make safer? Certainly not those of the thousands of
British traveller families. Is living in a house a prerequisite for being part
of a community? In their quest to win over middle England’s middle classes, New
Labour, like the Conservatives, are turning a blind eye to those who seek simply
to find their own way of life. Since Michael Howard, then Home Secretary,
presided over the 1994 Criminal Justice Act, which removed the obligation of
councils to provide legal caravan sites for travellers to stay, over 600 sites
have been closed, leaving many travellers forced to squat on private land, much
to the chagrin of landowners. Now Howard has threatened further attacks, this
time against the Human Rights Act, to prevent travellers who own their own land
from applying for retrospective planning permission for their caravans.
Are you thinking what we’re thinking? Yes, don’t
vote Conservative! But is there any wonder that the defence of gypsies is not a
popular electoral policy for any party when the media, the BNP and, most
recently, Robert Kilroy-Silk, continue their campaign of hatred in an effort to
demonise travellers, and paint them as tax evaders, squatters, freeloaders and
criminals. Whilst this may hold some truth for a small minority, it is far
removed from reality for the majority of Roma gypsies, Irish and new age
travellers who are all tarred with the same brush. The left must begin to
seriously champion the plight of these victimised communities, as it does for
all oppressed minorities. If New Labour wants to make traveller communities
safer, then they would be making a good start by reversing the damage done by
the Criminal Justice Act, setting minimum quotas for council maintained caravan
sites, allowing vehicles to rest on the sides of highways again, and promoting
the rights of travellers to live an alternative lifestyle without being forced
into council housing. This is a basic human right.
Your country's borders protected:
The government has pledged to protect Britain’s borders through
tighter immigration controls and the introduction of compulsory identity cards.
In doing so, however, it is playing into the hands of the fascists and,
alongside the right-wing media, has whipped up a popular fervour, which is
nothing short of legitimised racism, around the issue of asylum and immigration.
Many of the ridiculous claims made by those seeking to attack immigrants for
‘sponging off the state’ or ‘stealing our jobs’ can be easily dispelled by a
quick glance at the statistics published by the Commission for Racial Equality.
Immigration is essentially a non-issue, blown out of all proportion by media
agenda, and by political parties seeking to capitalise on it to score electoral
points.
The left is right to turn aside populism in arguing for more
relaxed policies on immigration. Opinion varies from calls for open borders, to
milder pledges to defend and support asylum seekers. This should not be a source
of division for us, and we should be united in making the call for an end to
detentions and deportations, and in actively seeking to promote understanding
and awareness about the truths of the issue. Perhaps the greatest challenge for
us is to counter the lies of the tabloid press, which are succeeding in creating
a climate of ignorance and open hostility towards immigration. Britain has an
ageing population, and in the long-term we will need the benefits offered by
immigrants searching for work here, to support an increasingly large dependent
population and avoid a pensions crisis. Whilst the West continues to exploit the
resources of the Third World and welcomes the appropriation of its wealth,
governments are not willing to bear the human cost of their immoral economic and
military misadventures. No government has ever sought to protect their country’s
borders from the inflow of capital, so why restrict the movement of people? The
government’s pledge is insular and myopic. We must begin to look beyond our own
borders. Only then can we hope to take Britain, and the world, forward, not
backward.
