Ed Miliband's Promises to Britain

"People sometimes say that they don't know what we — what I — stand for, so I'll put this in the simplest terms I can, John. This country is too unequal, and we need to change it.

So here are the promises I'm making to you about the kind of Britain I will lead:

First, I will undo the damage the Tories have done to our country:

• I will scrap the Bedroom Tax, which unfairly punishes the disabled and the vulnerable
• I will scrap the Health and Social Care Act, which damages and undermines our NHS
• I will scrap the gagging law, which limits our freedom of speech and right to campaign
• I will reverse the Tories' £3bn tax cut for millionaires, so we get the deficit down but do it fairly

Second, I will take on the powerful vested interests that hold millions back:

• I will force energy companies to freeze gas and electricity bills until 2017
• I will give power back to those who rent their homes, by scrapping letting fees and stabilising tenancy agreements
• I will raise money from tobacco companies, tax avoiders, and a mansion tax to fund doctors, nurses, careworkers and midwives for our NHS
• I will reform our banks so that they properly support small businesses
• I will stop recruitment agencies hiring only from abroad

Third, I will start to rebuild a fairer, better Britain:

• I will raise the minimum wage, to ensure that everyone that does a hard day's work is properly rewarded
• I will promote the living wage by giving tax breaks to companies that pay it
• I will ban the damaging zero-hours contracts that exploit British workers
• I will bring in a lower 10p income tax rate, cutting taxes for 24 million workers
• I will support working parents with 25 hours of free childcare for three- and four-year-olds
• I will help more young people get on the housing ladder by getting 200,000 homes built every year 

"Something radical" Housing Policy? Shadow Minister speaks to Branch Labour Link

s.On Wednesday evening the Labour Shadow Minister for Housing, Alison Seabeck MP, was the keynote speaker at the annual meeting of

UNISON Housing Association branch Labour Link. This took place in the House of Commons.

UNISON National Officer, Mike Short, spoke first about how some employers (not all) are using the "cuts" as an excuse to attack their own workers while others are trying to invent "creative" reasons to evade their responsibilities under TUPE transfers.  Not only are jobs, pay and conditions under threat but also even union rights to organise and defend their members.  We need to campaign, regionally and nationally, against government policy with local community groups.  Win the argument with the public that we are not to blame for the deficit.

Alison Seabeck is of course a politician but also a widely respected housing expert, unlike her floundering ministerial opponent.  She spoke for 10 minutes then rushed off and voted against the (awful) Tory Coalition "Health and Social Care" Bill before coming back to continue.  The single most interesting thing (amongst many) that she said, in response to a question about what a future Labour Government would do over housing, was once in power, the housing crisis could be simply so profoundly bad that "we may have to do something radical..." and similar to the what was done "after the Second World War" do deal with the crisis. 

Bring on that Labour Government!

There was a lively Q&A with Alison, members bringing up problems in the sector for workers and residents.  I asked a question about low pay and the unacceptable level of top executive pay in our sector, using the example of the strike the previous day by UNISON members in the Scottish Charity "Quarriers" (who are facing up to 23% cuts in wages).  I pointed to research in "The Spirit Level" that unequal societies are destructive for everyone and that the same principle would apply to unequal organisations. Alison was I think genuinely horrified at staff wages being cut.  She also agreed that excessive pay for executives  was wrong and that as a start, all such employers should publish the salaries of everyone in their organisation and this may shame them into doing something about it.  She brought up the example of her own Constituency in Plymouth where the Tory City Council is trying to trying to cut the wages of its workforce and de-recognise UNISON, while its own Chief executive is paid huge amounts of money.

After the meeting, some of us went off to the Red Lion pub in Whitehall to continue to put the housing world to rights, where we met UNISON and TULO activists who had just come back from the candle vigil for the NHS.  (Picture of Alison 5th from left)

...the end of the NHS as we know it...

This evening there was a candle vigil outside the House of Commons to draw attention to the potential
destruction of the NHS by this Tory led government. In particular the removal of the private patient cap and the threat of privatisation.

The Health and Social Care Bill was given its 3rd reading and will now go on to the House of Lords. UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis had warned Lib Dem MP's that by voting for this bill they will find their party out of power for a
generation.

"Our candlelight vigil marks the end of the NHS as we know it.

“Despite the denials, this government is throwing the door wide open to private companies, who will cherry pick profitable parts of our NHS, and make a fortune. We know that talks have already taken place with a German firm company about running 10-20 NHS hospitals".

I missed the vigil since by coincidence, I was chairing a meeting of my Branch Labour Link members at the Commons with shadow Labour Housing Minister, Alison Seabeck MP and UNISON National Officer Mike Short (I will post on this meeting later).  She had to dash out of the meeting for 10 minutes in order to go and vote against the Bill.  Afterwards, on the way out at the foot of the stairs from the committee rooms, we passed the statue head of the NHS founder, Aneurin Bevan.   I was reminded once again of his argument that "The NHS will last as long as there are folk with the faith to fight for it".

New NH$

Great new video from UNISONTV "Under government plans, you could be faced with becoming a private patient, or joining the back of an ever-growing queue. Don't let the government put profits before patients. Email your MP and ask them to take action against the Health and Social Care Bill: http://action.unison.org.uk/nhsbreakup

Our NHS, Our Future: Oppose the Health & Social Care Bill

Today (Monday 31 Jan) there will be the second reading at the House of Commons of the The Health and Social Care Bill.  Nurses at St. George's Hospital in Tooting, South London demonstrate support for our NHS.