Vot e Labour in the General Election

In this general election, the British people face a choice, a choice between the same old reactionary Tory Party, a dedicated partisan of the interests of the powerful, the rich and the greedy, and a renewed social democratic Labour Party that has a plan to secure economic recovery and make Britain a more socially just and humane society.

A worldwide financial crisis, triggered by the US housing market, has engulfed the world in the past few years, causing a global recession. Labour did not, contrary to what the other parties might say, ‘cause’ the recession – unlike previous recessions under the Tories in the 80s and 90s, it was the result of the interdependence of the world economy, not domestic economic policies.

Labour’s response was bold and prevented the financial crisis from triggering a second Great Depression. The plan to stabilise the world financial system and re-capitalise the banks was Gordon Brown’s plan, which lead Nobel economics laureate Paul Krugman to say that the Labour government acted with a “combination of clarity and decisiveness hasn’t been matched by any other Western government”. The Tories opposed this bold interventionist approach and would have let the financial system sink, the consequences of which would have been catastrophic.

During the recession that nonetheless followed, Labour took crucial action to ameliorate the effect of the recession. Help for families facing repossessions, billions invested to ensure that young people are ensured jobs or training, help for businesses in terms of deferring tax, the car scrappage scheme, increasing benefit and tax credit payments, the VAT cut; all are Labour policies that gave a boost to the economy and helped the UK return to growth. This has meant that house repossessions and unemployment stayed far lower than in previous recessions despite the recession being a deeper one this time, and all of it was opposed by the Tories, who don’t care about the social consequences of recessions.

We will continue to boost the economy and protect people from unemployment by creating 200,000 new jobs through the Future Jobs Fund, of which at least 120,000 will be targeted at 18-24 year olds. We will guarantee a job or training place for all 18 to 24 year olds out of work for six months. We will also invest in Green Jobs, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs in the industries of the future that will help us combat climate change.

We will ensure that the costs of the recession and paying off the debt fall on those with the broadest shoulders, through measures such as the 50% marginal income tax rate on high earners, the bankers’ bonus tax, closing down tax avoidance schemes, and cutting tax benefits for the rich in terms of pensions. This is in contrast to the Tories, who want to give tax breaks to their rich friends via changes to inheritance tax and tax relief for fat cats’ pensions.

We will stay relentlessly on the side of ordinary working people, children, pensioners, and the vulnerable, by increasing the minimum wage at least in line with earnings, increasing child benefits, protecting the network of Sure Start centres giving children the best start in life, introducing a new tax credit for toddlers, introducing a new National Care Service to look after the elderly in their homes, and re-linking the state pension to earnings. We will introduce a Living Wage for all government employees and contracted-out workers. Outrageous interest from doorstep loan sharks will be capped. We’ll make the Post Office a ‘People’s Bank’ to ensure that all have access to affordable financial services.
We’ll also ensure that the economy becomes more responsive to the long-term needs of society and its people by a raft of legislation designed to bring about mutualisation in the public and private sector, so that both enterprise and public services are democratically accountable to society, taking social objectives and long-term stability into account above short-termism and private greed. We will, for example, mutualise Northern Rock and the British Waterways, and legal and tax barriers will be removed to make it easier to create new John Lewis-style mutuals with employee buyouts of public companies. We’ll also make it easier for local communities and supporters to take democratic control of football clubs and pubs.

We also care passionately about Climate Change. This Labour government has introduced the most radical legislation on Climate Change in the whole world, committing government to 80% cuts in carbon emissions by 2050. It is also implementing a national plan to make these cuts a reality, by huge investment in renewable energy directly and via a Green Investment Bank, by improving the energy efficiency of homes and businesses, by installing smart-meters in every home, and many other practical policies.

Our social record on things like gay rights speaks for itself; we have enacted a legal and social revolution in favour of tolerance by repealing the hated section 28, introducing civil partnerships and equalising the gay age of consent. Labour MPs have the best voting record on gay rights. Given that the man who will be Home Secretary if we lose the election is a man who thinks it’s OK for B and B owners to turn people away for being gay, this is not a small deal; it’s a huge deal and it’s a Labour achievement, and it’s a legacy that only Labour will defend in government.

In terms of Cambridge locally, voting Lib Dem will not make a Tory government one iota less likely. The Lib Dems won’t come clean on what they will do in the event of a hung parliament; they have not ruled out a coalition government with the Tories. The fact is that the Lib Dems will go with whichever party has most MPs in a hung parliament. The balance of forces between Labour and the Tories will determine the complexion of the next government. The Lib Dems will go whichever way is suggested by the balance of these forces. The question: what would you do in a hung parliament? is one that the Lib Dem candidate for Cambridge CANNOT answer, because he knows that its answer could involve him becoming lobby fodder for a reactionary Tory-Lib Dem government. The brutal fact is this: vote Lib Dem, get David Cameron. The only way to keep the Tories out and enact a bold programme of social democratic reform is to vote Labour.

Ultimately, we can list all of our policies until we are blue in the face, but in the end it comes down to basic values. If you believe in a fairer deal for the working man and woman; if you believe in compassion, social justice, a society in which the rich pay their fair share to fund world-class public services and help for the less fortunate; if you believe in a society where social objectives such as full employment, dignity in retirement, greater equality and democratic accountability to the needs of local communities are put before private profit; if you believe that there’s something bigger than greed and that the underdog needs sticking up for, do the right thing. Vote Labour.

Victory! Marshall to Keep Flying in Cambridge

Labour's campaign to keep Marshall in Cambridge was vindicated today by an announcement by Marshall that they will stay in Cambridge for the foreseeable future, or, as Marshall put it itself in a press release, "in the immediate future, there are no suitable relocation options open to it". This is because the last site considered for relocation, Wyton, has been ruled out.

This is good news for Abbey. Many residents are employed by Marshall. Many apprenticeship opportunities at Marshall are provided to Abbey residents. These jobs and apprenticeships are now, at least for the time being, secure. Furthermore, the east side of the city, particularly Newmarket Road, will be saved from the extra traffic that would have been generated by 12, 000 houses. How the Lib Dems ever thought the east side of the city could take all of those extra homes with no corresponding investment in transport infrastructure and the like passes all understanding.

Consistently, Labour has supported keeping Marshall in Cambridge and opposed the crazy Lib Dem housing development plans for the east side of the city, unlike the Greens, who have never supported any Labour council motions supporting keeping Marshall in Cambridge and have always supported the idea of building on the Marshall site. I myelf have knocked on hundreds of doors in Abbey gathering signatures for the 'Keep Marshall in Cambridge' petition organised jointly by Labour and local trade unions. Support for Labour's campaign has been overwhelming in Abbey.

The big question thrown up by all of this is: where does this leave the Lib Dems housing plans? The answer is: in total disarray.

Since David Howarth, the then-leader of the council, announced back in 2000 the Lib Dems intention to use the Marshall site for the extra housing Cambridge needs, Lib Dem housing plans have been entirely predicated on the assumption that Marshall would move and make this possible. This is despite the fact that the council never had the power to force Marshall out. As a result of this misguided policy - a classic example of putting all of your eggs in one basket - the Lib Dems have no alternative plans for providing for Cambridge's housing needs. There is NO plan B. This is in the context of ever increasing council housing waiting lists.

The Lib Dems have turned around and accused us of not having a policy on housing (when of course they have no policy of their own now either, and they actually run the council!). They claim that because we oppose building on the Marshall site, we have no plans for providing affordable housing - but it is quite possible to reject the validity of using the Marshall site while supporting other development plans to provide affordable housing.

This is what Labour are doing. The Labour group wants development to happen organically around Cambridge, rather than dumping the majority of housing in one place with no provision for its infrastructural needs . We particularly favour development at Waterbeach, where existing transport links are good, and towards the North-West of the city near Girton, among other places.

The Lib Dems have also, unbelievably, tried to blame the Labour government for having some mysterious role in Marshall failing to gain permission to move to other sites, such as RAF Mildenhall. This is fantasy - there are a range of reasons for the other sites not being available for Marshall, but some Labour conspiracy is not one of them; as if a matter of planning and national security would have been decided to frustrate Lib Dem housing plans in a town miles away.

The fact is that the Lib Dems stupidly based their entire policy on an assumption they should never have taken for granted. While they have pursued the fantasy that the Marshall site would definitely be available for their housing plans, nothing has been done to address Cambridge's pressing need for more affordable housing in the past 10 years. Hence why Shelter's latest housing league table ranks Cambridge City Council 242nd out of 323 in terms of providing afforable housing, a dismal performance.

And so the Lib Dems flail around for excuses and attempt to blame anyone or anything other than themselves and their own stupidity for the situation; it's pathetic. For god's sake, let's throw these incompetents out in May and elect more Labour councillors, so that the city council can start to implement a realistic strategy for delivering the affordable housing Cambridge needs.