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Politics

Labour back on the right track...thank goodness

7 replies

breadandbutterfly · 13/06/2011 15:13

See Ed Miliband's speech today:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13745118

"Labour not party for benefit cheats - Ed Miliband

The theme of Ed Miliband's speech to community leaders in London was "responsibility"

Labour is seen by many as the party of those "ripping off our society" by abusing the benefits system, leader Ed Miliband has said.

In a speech in London, he said Labour must become a party that "rewards contribution, not worklessness".

Whilst the new approach is not perfect - I do think benefits should be there for the neediest as well as those who've contributed most - and I don't agree that the solution to the housing crisis is for workers to get priority for council houses (or rather, not without building a lot more first) - rather that house prices need to be encouraged to fall and/or wages to rise so that ordinary workers can afford ordinary houses, as they used to do... - nevertheless, an admission from the leader of the Labour Party that LABOUR GOT IT WRONG is a huge step in the right direction, and will lay the foundations for ex-Labour voters like myself to see Labour as 'our' party again.

His analysis is certainly spot on - Labour unde Mandelson I saw as the party of the filthy rich; and under Gordon Brown as the party of tax credits and benefits. Particularly for the unemployed/barely working.

Next step is to admit they were also wrong on tax credits - and that work itself needs to pay a living wage, instead of being supplemented by the taxpayer.

But this speech is one step closer to the traditional left-wing creed of 'from each according to his ability, to each according to his need'.

Good on you, Ed. I was beginning to think you'd lost interest in the whole business of attracting voters or indeed having any noticable policies since taking over the leadership. Hmm

.

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jackstarb · 13/06/2011 17:06

Thanks - good analysis. Here is an easy link to your BBC article.

Hassled · 13/06/2011 17:11

It's just good to see him doing anything at all, to be honest. All he needs now is some charisma and he'll be off. Liam Byrne says in that BBC article that we need to give Ed "a couple of years" before we start judging his leadership skills - do we (Labour) really have time for that?

CogitoErgoSometimes · 13/06/2011 17:46

Actions speak louder than words. He's wasted nine months, the big guns in his party have decided he's for the high-jump and, if his poll ratings don't perk up soon, they'll lever him out.

breadandbutterfly · 13/06/2011 18:01

He has seemed somewhat bafflingly lacking in oomph, hasn't he? Not really clear why - he managed to pull out all the stops to win the leadership race so he must have some oomph. Just for some unaccountable reason staying shtum.

Or is he doing stuff that's just not reported? eg i noticed the Mail ignored this story totally, whilst still going on about the David miliband said x, y and z about his brother story which is days old.

Hmmph.

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breadandbutterfly · 13/06/2011 18:03

Sorry - just realised amount of slang/sound effects made my last post virtually unreadable. Apologies. Blush

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jackstarb · 13/06/2011 19:07

This is interesting. A Telegraph blog post from Louise Bagshaw Mensch on Yvette Cooper as a potential challenger for the Labour leadership.

breadandbutterfly · 13/06/2011 21:32

So what? who cares who a Tory MP thinks should be the Labour leader? Hardly as though she was going to vote Labour either way, is it? Grin

Give Ed a chance - the last thing potential Labour supporters want is a huge leadership row - we want a focus on the issues, not the personalities.

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