"The chancellor's stimulus package doesn't go nearly far enough" Keir Starmer

"Where is the support for renters, the social care sector, public services or local authorities? The Guardian

We are living through a global emergency. There are no easy solutions. Soundbites will not turn the situation around. And all of us have a duty to act in the public interest.

So far, the government has, understandably, focused on a public health approach. But we must have confidence in the advice that is being given. This confidence requires full transparency from the government about the evidence and the modelling being relied upon. The last few days of confused messaging and policy-making has exacerbated uncertainty and cannot continue.

We need a clear and accessible public safety campaign, along with up-to-date information and clear guidance to the public about the steps required of them. It is good the prime minister has accepted the need for daily press conferences, but it is no use people waiting by their television for advice that is incomplete and incoherent.

In addition, the sheer scale of the challenge ahead requires a coordinated national response going well beyond a public health approach. It is no good telling older people to stay at home without an accompanying plan to guarantee their wellbeing. Ministers and departments cannot act in isolation.

There should be a coordinated resilience plan on a huge scale, anticipating problems wherever possible and flexible enough to adapt to swiftly changing circumstances.

How we provide core public services – police, transport, childcare, housing, social care – and ensure a supply of basic goods during a prolonged period of uncertainty is critical. In the absence of clear cross-departmental planning, urgently needed resources will not be allocated quickly enough or put to best use.

What is needed is a national plan of action, which the government should draw up as a matter of urgency and publish. This plan should then be coordinated and rolled out through the civil contingency secretariat, the agency responsible for emergency planning.

Alongside public health and the provision of core public services, safeguarding our economy is vital. The government’s fragmented, incomplete and insufficient announcements caused huge concern and anxiety, especially for those working in the hospitality, arts and entertainment sectors. In future, any new social distancing measures should be announced alongside a comprehensive financial package to help businesses, families and employees.

The extra fiscal stimulus announced by the chancellor is overdue, but we have to be honest that it is does not go far enough. The chancellor announced no new support for renters, no new money for social care, insufficient clarity for employment support and no new money for public services and local authorities. And for industries most at risk, the government has yet to provide concrete solutions for how it will protect these businesses and the people who depend on them.

If the government fails to appreciate that what is now a health crisis will soon be a fully-blown social-economic crisis, then they will have failed to grasp the severity of the situation.

The chancellor should commit to making regular financial statements, with updated economic forecasts. That way, Parliament will be able to subject the government’s approach to effective scrutiny and test what further intervention may be necessary to protect jobs and the economy.

The scale of this crisis we face means things cannot simply be left to Whitehall. The government should convene an economic taskforce involving councils and devolved nations, representatives of key sectors of the economy, businesses (large and small), trade unions and economists to thrash out the economic implications of the crisis and the stimulus required to maintain investment and jobs for the future.

Finally, we need an international response to the crisis. So far, the default position of most national governments has been to take unilateral action. Yet, this is a global threat that demands a global response. If countries with weaker health systems are overwhelmed, we will never defeat the virus. Any geopolitical conflict over this issue must be resisted. It is our duty to be leaders on the world stage helping to coordinate international efforts and an international response.

For the Labour party, this crisis will straddle a period of change as we elect a new leader and deputy leader. Whoever wins will not get to choose the circumstances they will inherit. But he or she must rise to the challenge.

That is why, if I am elected leader, I am determined that the Labour party will act with the responsibility and care needed to put the best interests of the public first. We will ensure that we are in a position to speak for the country over the practical measures the UK needs by using the expertise from local and devolved governments, the trade union movement, businesses, economists and other key sectors.

The role of the opposition is vital in this period. We must be constructive and forensic. We should ask searching and difficult questions; not to score party political points but to give voice to the concerns of the public and because scrutiny and challenge improves decision-making.

When ministers are doing the right thing, we should have the courage to say so. When they are not, we should have the courage to call them out. The public interest must come first.

• Keir Starmer is the MP for Holborn and St Pancras and a Labour leadership candidate

"It's the economy, stupid" Sunday Night Live 31 Jan 2016

Sunday Night Live: It's the economy, stupid 5pm, 31st Jan 2016                    View this email in your browser

It’s the economy, stupid As applicable now as it was during the 92 Democrat US Presidential election campaign, ‘It’s the economy, stupid’ remains a de facto slogan of our times.   With continuing financial spasms occurring across all major markets amidst fears that China is heading into a recession; the world economy facing the prospect of another 2008-style crisis; and criticisms that the Bank of England are sleepwalking into another financial meltdown despite Osborne’s talk of 2016 being ‘mission critical’ for the UK economy, this Sunday Night Live session with key economic figures and ahead of the March budget, will explore: How realistic is it to reduce economic inequality in a financialised global economy where national governments are limited?  What are the disruptive consequences of technology plus implications for inequities in the wider Labour market including persistent wage stagnation? Can governments create balanced and sustainable economies?  What exactly is New Economics? So come join next week’s Sunday Night Live session following a week when the Labour Party has announced a series of public events to broaden the debate around economics in Britain, and inspire members of the public to talk about economic ideas in the hope they will inform Labour policy, plus a Fabian Society conference speech by Corbyn who placed addressing economic inequality at the heart of Labour’s renewal.   We look forward to seeing you! Sunday Night Live Team Register HERE for free

Sometimes Two 'Eds aren't better than one!

I’ve had a comment wondering why I haven’t posted on the two Eds' recent pronouncements on cuts to spending and public sector pay. 

I was thinking of writing something but I thought I will calm down a bit before doing so. Ironically I remember listening to a speech by Ed Miliband himself reflecting on the last Labour government. He remarked how sometimes he would be listening to the radio in the morning and hear for the first time a new government announcement and he would say to himself “why on earth did we say that”? I had a very similar feeling listening to reports of Ed Balls speech last Saturday on my headphones while out on a long run. Why on earth did he say that?

At best this is similar to the 1997 Labour manifesto to keep to Tory government spending limits during the first (two) years. At worse it seems just a complete back track on any alternative economic policy.

I can get the argument that any opposition party cannot commit to all cuts being reversed. I understand that you cannot predict exactly what state the economy will be in 2015. But to give the impression that there will be no rebalancing of budget cuts and taxation is simply daft.  Equally why would an opposition Party want to agree with the Government on such profound and controversial issues? That is not their job? They are ...The Official Opposition. They are there to hold the government and its policies to account. While I don't expect yah boo politics and pointless oppositionalism. There is an alternative economic case to be made. I agree that we are not winning this argument at the moment but I genuinely think that the Party is in danger of missing the boat.  The economic crisis will deepen and so many people will be so adversely affected by both unemployment and cuts to services and pay that there will be a political mood change for a fairer and more progressive society. 

Finally, I simply don’t believe that a Labour government in power will do this and I also don’t think that the public will believe it either. So it is in my view pointless guff which has done nothing but to genuinely upset many Labour Party supporters and our core vote. I was pleased to hear today (while on another run) Margaret Beckett ring in to "Any Answers" and indicate that the whole matter had in deed been some sort of a presentational cock-up.

Being in Opposition is a pretty awful and frustrating job. Everyone in the Labour movement is absolutely desperate to do every thing possible to get rid of this government. But on this particular issue the Party leadership has got it wrong. These things happen from time to time.  What really matters now is that the Two 'Eds stop digging holes and start building for change. 

Check out UNISON response here.

UNISON NDC 2010: Economy Debate: Motion 70

(I managed to speak during this debate) "President, Conference, John Gray, Housing Associations branch, London Region. Speaking in support of Motion 70.

Conference, organising the union to effectively defend our members is absolutely key, while campaigning and protesting against cuts will also be crucial. But we have also got to carry out one more thing – there is another major battle that we have got to win and that battle is going to be the Battle of Ideas.

It is incredible that due to the massive failure of lassie-faire financial markets a Labour government which for all its faults we see now was progressive, has been kicked out of power and replaced by a free market Tory fundamentalists and their orange book liberals. Not only this - but they have been able to put the blame for the recession on our so called bloated public sector with our so called gold plated pensions.

The truth of the matter is that the government deficit has been caused by huge drop in taxes which was directly caused by recession which in turn was directly caused by the theft and gross reckless incompetence of many of the same supporters and funders of the so called modern compassionate conservatives. It is amazing that we have allowed this argument to become common place even amongst our own members.

Conference we need to win the battle of ideas, we need to explain that if it was not for recent government spending we would now be facing a depression not a recession, we need to face down the pub bores and the daily mail editorials and argue that you do not have to have savage cuts in public spending. There is an alternative argument.

Conference, we need to argue for a rebalanced mixed economy, an economy based on a given belief that public servants delivering accountable public services are a positive and not a negative. That paying benefits for out of work builders while we have 4 million on the housing waiting list is not only a waste of money and people’s lives but is also the wrong way get us to get out of recession. Having multi-millionaires who admit to paying less in taxes than their office cleaners is not the way to raise enough money to pay off government debt. We need to be confident that there is recognised research such as is found in the book “spirit level” that societies that have fair taxes on the better off end up being better societies for all rich and poor.

Finally conference, while debate in this hall is important – the battle of ideas will take place outside in our branches, in our work place with our employers, and crucially in our community. It is of course a battle that we must win. Thank you".

The Road Ahead - Labour Party Election Broadcast

A great Broadcast - because it is "The Economy Stupid" - Labour has called the right economic shots that have stopped a recession turning into a depression. Because of their political and economic dogma the Tories would still risk all if elected.

Steady as she goes with Brown and Darling at the helm....No to Eton "boy wonders".

We want our chief officers of State to be in post by their merit - not cadets who were bought advantages and positions in life by Mater and Pater.

The Economy - first time speaker at conference

"Chair, conference - John Gray, Proud to be a West Ham Labour Party delegate – Proud to be a UNISON activist and one of their million voices.

Conference, I’m Proud that West Ham is the birthplace of the Labour Party. Proud that in our London borough of Newham we this year increased the Labour vote during the European elections. Proud that Newham is the home of the biggest share of the vote for Labour in the entire Country.

Conference - I have two related contributions to make towards the debate on the economy. Firstly to remind people that it was our Labour government that stood up to the massive and unknown problems of the recent financial crisis and the government took enormous and unprecedented risks to save us from a most savage depression. We need to remember this and be proud of our achievements so far. We need to remind everyone that at this time of national crisis - our opponents, the Tories and their friends in the media were attacking the government - attacking and undermining - with only “Do Nothing” alternatives.

Conference – can you just imagine what the state of our country would now be if Cameron and Osborne, these “Champagne Charlie’s” had been in charge?

Secondly conference - and this is why I am still convinced that we will win the next general election - at the end of the day it will be “its the economy stupid” that will decide the election and we have the economic talents and competency and the Tories do not. We must never ever forget that the financial crisis was caused by market failure which can only be cured more Government intervention, better ownership by collective share owners, more regulation - to which the Tories remain ideologically opposed.

Conference - of course we can’t take anything for granted and we are in a hard place but we must have the self belief that we have got the right economic fundamentals and the Tories have simply got it wrong.

After all conference never forget “Gordon did save the world”