The peculiar thing about his presentation is that he concentrated almost entirely on matters relevant to the 2015 General Election. He said little about Labour's policies for Europe nor about how Labour Councils will act in the immediate future. In his speech he referred to "Ten Ways that a Labour Government would make a difference". The ten points he was referring to seem to be those that are shown below and which have been issued separately. These are points related entirely to next year's General Election and not to the European nor the coming Local Government Elections.
So just when will Labour issue its manifesto for elections which are due to take place in just three weeks time? It is two months since it signed up to a European Manifesto issued by the Party for European Socialism (PES), to whom it is affiliated. Why is it not pushing nor (seemingly) even mentioning this document? It can be found via this link?
Much of what follows is worthwhile. But of more immedate significance, so is most of the PES Manifesto. Labour should not fight the coming elections without confronting the relevant issues.
Labour's Cost-Of-Living Contract With You
We Will:
- Freeze gas and electricity bills until 2017 and reform the energy market
- Get 200,000 homes built a year by 2020
- Stop families that rent being ripped off and help them plan for the future with new long term predictable tenancies
- Cut income tax for hardworking people through a lower 10p starting tax rate, and introduce a 50p top rate of tax as we pay off the deficit in a fair way
- Ban exploitative zero-hour contracts
- Make work pay by strengthening the Minimum Wage and providing tax breaks to firms that boost pay through the Living Wage
- Back small businesses by cutting business rates and reforming the banks
- Help working parents with 25 hours of free childcare for three- and four-year-olds
- Tackle the abuse of migrant labour to undercut wages by banning recruitment agencies that only hire foreign workers and pressing for stronger controls in Europe
- Back the next generation with a job guarantee for the young unemployed and more apprenticeships
2 comments:
The following comment is from Steve Pickering.
"It is interesting that Labour party members have had a e mail from the East Midlands European Campaign Team to join them canvassing in Chesterfied and North East Derbyshire on 3rd May; the Labour Party in Britain seems to have no policy on Europe. What will be the message on the door step? Is one nation Britain a nation in Europe or a nation separate from Europe; we seem to be sitting on the fence rather than making a commitment to the electorate. The European candidates seem to be isolated in a political vacuum or...?"
STEVE PICKERING.
Steve : Your question as to whether Labour's "One Nation Britain" is a nation in or separate from Europe, seems to me to be the key issue.
Post a Comment