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Poll: Should Labour turn left or right?
- Thread starter stockhausen
- Start date
Left and right is almost irrelevant, they lost because they still aren't trusted, and Ed and Ed did little to improve that, and because they returned to "capital vs labour" which is becoming less relevant as the moves on.
The traditional labour party argument is that the rich and powerful are screwing over the rest. This is easy to sell in the past as there were clear dividing lines between management/investors and the guys on the shop floor. There isn't as much distinction now. The arguments no longer work.
The traditional labour party argument is that the rich and powerful are screwing over the rest. This is easy to sell in the past as there were clear dividing lines between management/investors and the guys on the shop floor. There isn't as much distinction now. The arguments no longer work.
I think that there is more distinction now, at least financially. However people seem more reluctant to identify themselves as 'working class' and would much rather project a middle-class image, which has become a lot easier with the increased availability of consumer credit. For some reason people are more likely to look at their personal situation and blame the new bogeymen of migrants/the EU than ask the question of whether the company CEO is really worth over 100 times more than they are.
Well actually that's not quite true but it does lead to an interesting point, Labour had to make sure any spending commitment they made in their manifesto was fully funded or else the Tory Propaganda machine would have ripped them to shreds, meanwhile the Tory manifesto contained an £8bn unfunded spending commitment to the NHS, unfunded extension to the Right-to-Buy project, and £12bn of unannounced spending cuts from their last budget. Like I said, no-one believes they'll be able to deliver half of this.
Who reads social media? Those pesky pensioners, who vote in large numbers, don't I expect.
I think this guardian piece has really summed up the feelings of many Scots and I imagine many British people regarding the labour party.
All they had to do was stay they'd end austerity yet they seemed to be offering more austerity the same package as the conservatives.
It must have been a difficult choice for many south of the border as the two parties were similar.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/may/10/scottish-labour-jim-murphy-resign
All they had to do was stay they'd end austerity yet they seemed to be offering more austerity the same package as the conservatives.
It must have been a difficult choice for many south of the border as the two parties were similar.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/may/10/scottish-labour-jim-murphy-resign
Lol
well they can more a bit to the right and become Tory lite... though unless they've got a charismatic leader behind them and the Tories have a bad one why would people bother voting for them if they're not offering anything different
they can move to the left a bit - though they'd need the Tories to really upset a lot of people for people to turn to them then as they'd mostly be alienating middle englander types.. having said that they got more votes in England than 2010 after moving left and they lost out in Scotland to a party that is more left wing than they are
unfortunately for left wing people the previous coalition actually did quite a good job - the economy recovered, jobs were created, unemployment reduced... bleating about food banks and the bedroom tax isn't going to sway the vast majority of the country for whom the previous coalition have improved things and it was Labour that started the privatisation of the NHS - you'd need to Tories to actually fail before getting a serious shift to the left and that doesn't look like it is happening at the moment (maybe the EU referendum could throw a spanner in the works but then again if the UK broke up then there is an even stronger change of having the Tories remain in power).
they can move to the left a bit - though they'd need the Tories to really upset a lot of people for people to turn to them then as they'd mostly be alienating middle englander types.. having said that they got more votes in England than 2010 after moving left and they lost out in Scotland to a party that is more left wing than they are
unfortunately for left wing people the previous coalition actually did quite a good job - the economy recovered, jobs were created, unemployment reduced... bleating about food banks and the bedroom tax isn't going to sway the vast majority of the country for whom the previous coalition have improved things and it was Labour that started the privatisation of the NHS - you'd need to Tories to actually fail before getting a serious shift to the left and that doesn't look like it is happening at the moment (maybe the EU referendum could throw a spanner in the works but then again if the UK broke up then there is an even stronger change of having the Tories remain in power).
Could it be that *some* austerity is essential? It's one thing saying end austerity now but if you are in a position where you may actually have to deliver on it...
well the problem is they're a party that, until recently, thought they had a serious chance of being elected - so they had to actually be serious when coming up with policies and not indulge in fantasy nonsense like ending austerity and paying for everything with magic beans... unless they fancied getting into power and turning us into one of the GIPSI countries
That and most middle class people felt threatened by labour's policies. Most of the country would have been worse off and in the long term everyone in the country would have been worse off.
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What do you think quantitative easing is?
Which policy? As a member of the middle class I didn't feel threatened by Labour's policies at all, the Tories' policies were more threatening given they were unfunded.
Very much taxes, but also a lot of policies. They were going to raise taxes on business, not raise the 40% tax band on earnings, introduce mansion tax which was clearly going to effect us all one day as property value grew and/or threshold creeped down, reduce private house investment and hence building, bring back pointless 50p tax, removing marriage tax allowance, not offering 30 hours free child care per week and not raising tax free allowance. We also have the issue that they will reduce the incentive to work compared to being on benefits.
For anyone that is working and has aspiration to maximising their potential in their career it was a threat. The amount of private sector jobs would have been heavily effected and paying more tax on an already heavily burdened salary is not appealing whether that is now or potential in the future. It gives confidence to the employee, confidence to the business and these ultimately help the economy.
Sums up my opinion pretty much. For a party that was supposed to represent the 'left', all of Labours policies were basically 'the same as the Tory ones but a bit less'. I think that if they'd actually opposed austerity and got the message across as to why it's a terrible idea they might have done better. It certainly worked for the SNP. There's no way that all of those Scottish people were only voting the way they did because they want out of the union.
They're already right, that isn't the issue, should stay about there. Trustworthiness and crap leader really harmed them.
However can we have a party economically right, somewhere between labour and cons, but very much in the liberal corner.
However can we have a party economically right, somewhere between labour and cons, but very much in the liberal corner.
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Because more centre-based parties is exactly what the UK needs...