What does Labour need to do to get back into government?

[MrPants]

As many may well know, I?m no fan of Labour. However, the coalition is making far too many mistakes for my liking and needs to sharpen up their act too. The main thing which allows the coalition to get away with so much is, in my opinion, the woeful state of the opposition. Put simply, Labour need some good ideas and they need to come out fighting. The problem is that many, possibly most, voters hold Labour responsible for much of the country?s current economic woes, and, in any case, there is no money left for the traditional Labour solution of firehosing money at every problem in sight. Nevertheless, arguably ?New? Labours greatest and most durable successes were zero or low cost ideas ? ideas like sorting out Northern Ireland, introducing Civil Partnerships and free entry to museums. They need a whole load more ideas like that to have any hope of returning to government any time soon.

I hope this doesn?t turn into another ?Ed is crap? thread ? I?m looking for sensible, vaguely costed solutions that you think might just get the coalition worried and show that the next election isn?t a foregone conclusion.

Here?s my starter for ten.

1. Abolish Corporation Tax for UK businesses opening, or foreign businesses relocating, to the 25 worst employment black-spots in the UK. This will undercut our European competitors and provide many much needed jobs and regeneration directly into our most blighted constituencies. That these places will probably already be Labour strongholds makes it all the more unbelievable that they haven?t tried this already. This is an affordable idea because it applies to businesses that may not have chosen to set up at all ? the cost saving comes from the reduced welfare bill of employing new workers who would have otherwise remained workless.
2. Suggest areas where spending cuts could be made, rather than a ?yah-boo-it-sucks-to-be-you? style battle every time the coalition try to shred a ha?penny off some obscure budget. For example, all of those diversity co-ordinators and non-jobs that proliferated throughout the Labour years, are ?all? of them strictly necessary?
3. Simplify the tax code by merging all personal taxation (income tax, Nat Insurance, Cap Gains etc) into one ?super-income? tax whereby any income, regardless of how it is ?earned? (whether it is by wages, dividends, interest payments etc.) is taxed at the same flat rate (somewhere around the 35-40% mark so that no-one, irrespective of where they are on the pay scale will end up paying more) with a larger, more generous personal allowance of, for example, £15k. The advantage of this is that huge swathes of the poorest are completely removed from paying tax at all, the marginal tax rate of coming off benefits is far less and the system is significantly simplified.
4. Rather than pay child allowance, or various other in-work benefits, simply raise the parents? personal allowance instead. This has the twin effect of removing bureaucracy and it would no longer be seen as a state handout. That?s my starter. I accept that none of these ideas will win an election in their own right ? however, Labour?s strategy has to be simple enough. They must find a way to maximise private sector jobs, build growth, reduce spending and try and keep the Unions together (both the Trades Unions and the Union of England and Scotland) to even have a hope of winning an election.

reallytired, most graduate jobs that make money are not dependent on degree subject - law, accountancy etc are good examples of professions where an arts or humanities degree will be no hindrance and may be a help - they require thhe ability to analyse information, but no high degree of pure maths and can and are done succcessfully by many arts/humaiies grads. Likewise, Britain excels in creative industries - our theare, film, fashion, music etc are world-class exports (also impacting on our tourism); it's a very one-sided and old-fashioned view of the economy in which anything that is not manufactured by an engineering process, or high finance ie requiring degree-level maths or equivalent, is worthless and unable to produce a profit.

But even if what you say was true, I'd still disagree with you strongly - I think the purpose of education is far beyond the strictly vocational - it is about realising our potential as human beings and our place in the world and in time, our skills and our limitations, confidence and yet humility.

"But even if what you say was true, I'd still disagree with you strongly - I think the purpose of education is far beyond the strictly vocational - it is about realising our potential as human beings and our place in the world and in time, our skills and our limitations, confidence and yet humility."

Surely we all need SOME vocational skills to survive. Education should not be 100% vocational, but if graduates are completely useless then they have been failed.

Surely its possible to find a way of addressing this

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2026858/Bosses-condemn-useless-degrees-leave-graduates-lacking-basic-skills.html

and allow someone to follow their passion to study medival history or basket weaving or physics. The problem with these high debts is that students cannot afford to train to do something useful.

Sorry reallytired don't you mean "The problem with these high debts is that students cannot afford to train to do something useless."

MrPants and Bread&Butterfly I like both your ideas although like others have said, I think they are more traditional tory ideas!

I think actually where the tory/Labour problem lies is that neither party really represents the true middle ground which people want to see any more.

I think lower housing costs are absolutely key (in reality this is really the only cost of living component govt can do a lot about - but it would make a huge difference if the cost of housing (bought or rented) was reduced over time by 30-40%) I think BTL mortgages should be phased out and banned over the next 5 years, yes, investment in property should be allowed but only if you have the full cost of the property in cash to start with. It makes me sick that people are paying other people's mortgages for them - the cost of renting is normally slightly more than the mortgage would be for the property!

I think that a huge housebuilding programme and the phasing out of BTL landlords would help enormously.

So TOTALLY agree Mrs Cog!

Housing is the fuck-off massive elephant in the room, as far as the economy is concerned (excuse language but get heated on this one).

mr pants - is physics useless? Or indeed basketweaving?

useful fits just as well.

A Physics graduate is useless if they have no interpersonal skills or they get a third. An English graduate is useless if they have no IT skills. I feel its vital that unis develop the entire person.

A good physics course will develop a rounded person. In the past there have been so few people wanting to do physics degrees it has been possible to get on a physics degreee with weak qualficiations and it led to people getting thirds inspite of working hard.

I think a degree in basket weaving would be useful if combined with business studies so that the graduate can sell their baskets.

reallytired - Not sure i agree. Nothing wrong intrinsically with specialists - we need not all be generalists as long as between us we have a range of skills. However, your original idea falls down anyway on its underlying presumption that the most valuable degrees ie those we should as a society be encouraging are those which earn the most - I'd disaree that bankers are way more valuable than nurses say. I really don't think you can put a price on everything; or if you can, it may not actually be the right one.

Fair enough, but could we put a price on American Studies or tosh like that?

Besides, a Physics grad usually has a foot in the engineering camp and a foot in the maths camp. In my profession physics is very well regarded.

I did a physics degree and I earnt well before babies. The computer programming skills I learnt as part of my degree made me employable in software development. Other people I know with Physics degrees have gone on to become an actuary, worked for oil companies doing mathematical modelling or teaching.

Nurses do earn well and infact you don't need to get into mountains of debt to become a nurse. You get your fees paid and a means test bursery for a nursing degree. Nurses start at 21K and a nurse in a management position can do very nicely.

Surely universities aren't scared that their graduates will have poor job prospects?

1. Abolish tuition fees and fund living expenses for those at university. This would be paid for by slashing the number of places available, perhaps by as much as 75%. Entry would be on merit alone, nothing else.

1. Reintroduce polys, possibly restyled along the lines of US community colleges, so that adults who want to retrain but are not looking to be academic leaders in their field, can accumulate degrees/diplomas/NVQs etc just the same way you can study for an OU degree around your other commitments. We are wasting talent in this country because people can't retrain. Making use of people's talents and putting them in the right job frees up the NMW-type jobs for others, creates a happier society, increases social mobility and is good for the economy. Local FE colleges that only offer GCSEs or classes in woodwork and beauty therapy are not much help to anyone.

1. Introduce linked salaries/bonuses so that those at the top cannot earn more than a certain multiple of those at the bottom.

1. Invest in a massive social housing building scheme. After WWII this did loads to encourage economic growth as well as solving housing problems.

1. Form a cross-party commission charged with looking at regulating banks and big business. Politicians of all colours are terrified of offending the big players and that is bad for everyone (other than the CEOs at the top of course).

1. Invest in public transport but at the same time recognise that the UK is not just London. People in other areas have no choice but to use cars. Reduce tax on fuel (also good for business and public transport) but slap it on road tax and vary it by location.

1. Massively subsidise childcare. The amount of tax it will raise will pay for itself. There are other social justifications, but that's the economic one.

1. Find a more charismatic leader

sunshineandbooks You have some good ideas there, however, I can't see Labour reducing the number of university places - they were the drivers behind 50% of the population having a degree and therefore causing the problem of unaffordability in the first place.

How about introducing a new concept into Higher Education whereby, in exchange for a nice tax break, a business can sponsor someone through university - I know this is already done but here's the twist - the company can demand a fixed contract whereby the undergraduate has to hit a certain performance target (say a 2:1), or become liable for some of the costs of the course (built into a sliding scale), in return for signing up to work for the company for, say, seven years after graduation at X% of a graduates salary. I hope you are still following this one!!!

I also think your second point should be taken further and make Open University free for everyone to study a wider range of academic qualifications (ranging from 'A' level up to Masters or Phd).

I also like your fourth point but why does it have to be restricted to social housing. As I've written elsewhere, liberalise the planning system and construction will take off again.

Point 5, we could do as you suggest but I think it would be cheaper all round, and show we mean business if the government simply removed the implicit guarantee that they will always bail out a failing bank.

8 is a given!

I think that unis need to be more imaginative about how degrees are delivered. Modern technology should make it cheaper to produce high quality courses. Video conferencing makes it possible to study from anywhere in the world. There needs to be more flexiblity so that people can choose how they study. I would like more people study part time on day release. It would be a way out for single mothers trapped in povety.

I agree with subsidizing further ed colleges and the OU. I think it was a mistake taking away all subsidy from evening courses. Barnfield College in Luton does a lot of excellent evening courses, but look at the cost. They used to run courses during the day for adults before the credit crunch. The high costs of courses make it difficult to change career.

Social housing is hard, we need to encourage people to move and set up businesss in deprived areas of the UK. It is silly everyone living in the south east. I think we need to dramatically improve rail and transport links to help the north east.

all they really have to do is hang around long enough, sadly.

and hope to fuck the Greens don't run off with the unions!