Today marks the 1000th day of Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.

 

Today marks the 1000th day of Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
This Labour Government stands with Ukraine.
Slava Ukraini

1st Labour Government budget 2024

 

This is the power of a Labour government.

What a heritage and still lots and lots to do if we get power...

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100 years of Labour achievement: 1924-2024

"January 2024 is the 100th anniversary of the first ever Labour government.

In the election the previous month, Labour secured its best result up until that point, pushing the Liberals into third. The Conservatives failed to get an overall majority and Labour, tacitly supported by the Liberals, formed a minority government.

The men and women who formed Labour’s government included many of the greats who had led Labour in its first quarter-century. Ramsay MacDonald was Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary, Arthur Henderson the Home Secretary and Philip Snowden Chancellor of the Exchequer.

The election had also seen the election of the first three female Labour MPs: Margaret Bondfield, Dorothy Jewson and Susan Lawrence. Bondfield would later become the first female cabinet minister and the first woman to be a privy counsellor in the UK.

Although the first Labour government only lasted nine months, it achieved much, including the Wheatley Housing Act that saw half a million council homes built over the next decade. Labour also planned new and improved schools, improved pensions and benefits, and laid the foundations for the extension of voting rights to millions more.

Perhaps its greatest achievement was lasting as long as it did, brought down in the end by dirty tricks and lies in the press. Labour had proved it could be a party of government, competent in office and achieving results for working people. The political landscape in Britain had changed forever.

Since 1924, Labour governments have been beacons of progress and social justice. Through times of struggle, of conflict, of economic depression, it has been Labour that has fought for working people here and around the world. A Century of Progress". https://labour.org.uk/about-us/labours-legacy/a-century-of-progress-1924-2024/

For a Strong & Effective UNISON Labour Link please support...

Electronic ballot papers arrived to me via email on Monday and paper ballot papers today. Please support these candidates in your regions if you are a member of UNISON and its Labour Link (use to be called APF) Political fund. Obviously you can only vote once. 

If you support the Labour Party and don't know if you are in the UNISON Labour Link check https://www.unison.org.uk/my-unison/ and join. 

You now need a pension pot lump sum worth £646,000 to have a comfortable retirement

Check out this shocking report that rising prices mean that in last year a couple on a "minimum" retirement income (including state pension) will need almost 20% income (extra £3200 pa) per year.  But who anyway wants to retire on the "minimum"?

To get a "comfortable" retirement (e.g go on holiday Europe for 3 weeks per year) a couple will need a "pension pot" lump worth a staggering £646,000 to provide this income. 

I wonder how many of my UNISON members will have a pension pot anywhere near that figure. 

Employers must take the lead in providing suitable pensions for its staff. They must pay the lion share. It is in their interests since otherwise you will find a workforce unable to retire regardless of their age or health since they would be living in poverty. 

The rush to the gutter in pension provision of so many employers in a national disgrace. I hope and expect a future Labour Government to act. 

"An Economy for One Nation: How Progressive can a Future Labour Government be"?

Picture of East Ham MP Stephen Timms and UNISON Head of Local Government Heather Wakefield (Chair Christopher Owens on right) at the Newham Compass & Fabians debate on how radical the next Labour Government should be.  This was held last month at West Ham FC supporter’s club.

Stephen spoke first on the central policy of the next Labour Government must be to cut unemployment. The Tory cuts had failed and resulted in no growth. Many people now beginning to realise that the cuts are not working.

The deficit had not been caused by overspending but by the collapse in the economy due to the financial crisis. He enjoyed seeing even Tories criticising government policies. If Labour are elected then there are limits to what we can do. Employment is key to fighting poverty. Labour will offer a guaranteed job for 6 months.

Heather introduced herself as a Chelsea FC season ticket holder who was pleased to be at West Ham! She was going to be more idealistic and talk about values. Privatisation of public services had led to reduced wages and badly run, inefficient services and greater income inequality.

We need gender equality as well as satisfying and socially useful work. Real workplace democracy. We need a partnership at work, a new deal with unions.

There needs to be a new attitude to taxes, ask what the economy is for and who benefits from it? A Green investment bank to make Government offices and homes energy efficient. Deal with tax havens. Raise a Robin Hood (or rather Maid Marian) Tobin Tax. Reform Council tax. Make sure that there is a minimum income for all.

We have the most expensive child care in Europe apart from Switzerland. Women suffer the most in terms of jobs and pay from Austerity. There has to be a Keynesian economic programme, we could invest in new homes. Ask should we have low pay or a living wage. Why do we subsidise Tesco with tax credits?

Worse privatisation was in social care. Dominated by big companies making massive profits out of poor quality care and also schools meals.

In the Q&A I asked the question that in line with Heather’s remarks about rethinking our attitude to taxes, we ought to be pointing out that getting the unemployed into work will cost money and that we have to accept that all of us will have to pay more tax in return for quality public services. 

Heather was very positive in her reply while Stephen was a little more circumspect.

Myths about Public Spending under Labour

I like this post and chart in Red Brick by Steve Hilditch about actual public spending as percentage of GDP under Labour and Conservative Governments (as opposed to the myths).

With the exception of The Labour Government 1974-79, Tory Governments (including this one) have since 1965 spent more while in power than Labour ones. Even under Thatcher and Major.

The real question is did Labour spend too little in the last government?

What has the Labour Government ever done for us?

"...papers cover in detail analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies on the distributional impact of thirteen years of Labour rule. The picture is stunning and represents a clear progressive redistribution from rich to poor with those earning over £100,000 paying the most".

Great graphic and very important research.    Labour supporters ought to spread the  word.

Hat tip thingy Left foot Forward and inspiration for post title from my new best friend ever Andy Newman at Socialist Unity.

Scottish Local Government Strike: Labour “Don’t desert local gov workers”

Good luck to the UNISON, Unite and GMB members out on a one day strike today in Scotland over a below inflation pay offer (2.5%).

Check out the UNISON Scotland blog and the list of events on the main site.

This is what UNISON General Secretary, Dave Prentis, had to say on the national issue regarding pay for all Local Government workers at the Labour Party conference today (Tuesday).

"We really do need you to treat our local government workers with dignity, respect and fairness," he said, urging communities and local government secretary Hazel Blears to step in and increase the "insulting" pay offer that had pushed workers throughout the UK into taking strike action.

"Hazel, you have to intervene. Don't prevaricate. You've got to get this mess sorted out. "Pay them fairly and they will vote for you in the next election."

Mr Prentis said local government workers should be celebrated, paying tribute to them as the hidden heroes of our society."Dinner ladies, street cleaners, social workers, bin men, home carers, meals on wheels; caring for our sick and our elderly and our children; picking up the pieces, often behind the scenes – all extraordinary people who I am proud and privileged to represent.

"Yet, he chided ministers, those same workers are bearing the brunt of an "unfair and unjust" pay policy based on the myth that public service pay causes inflation.If the government really wants to tackle inflation, it must tackle the obscene bonuses of boardroom bosses, Mr Prentis said.

It must curb the huge price hikes in fuel bills and tackle the greedy energy companies "making millions of pounds on the backs of our members … the working poor who are taking the hit, paying the price for years of deregulation."

If Labour is the party of fairness, he said, it must show it. "Now is the time for action against low pay. Now is the time to show our people that Labour is on their side, that we are the party of fairness, that when times get tough – unlike the Tories – we’ll be right there."

The Tories look after their own. Let Labour look after ours."

I think that if the Government is really concerned about fairness (and I think it is) then it must not repeat the mistake of the 10p tax rate debacle. It needs to find a way out of the public sector pay hole they have dug themselves into.

This is not simply about naked self interest (being subject to NJC – local government terms - I do declare an interest), Labour has got my vote and support anyway. There is simply no alternative for working people in this country other than the Labour Party. Never has been and in all probability, never will be.

But what will be crucial in May 2010 will be rallying enough traditional Labour voters out on the day to vote. It’s no use the Party thinking that traditional supporters will vote for them anyway since the alternative is the Tories. In these days of nice and cuddly “Dave” Cameron that just will not wash anymore.

Now the Party still has to attract other voters and I am sure that once an election is called people will blink before actually putting their cross on the ballot paper for Cameron. But the core Labour vote will count.

We don’t want to nationalise the commanding heights of the economy (well, I don’t anyway). We just want a Fair deal for our members so we can remind them of all the many great things that the Labour government have done for working people during the last 11 years and the disaster facing them if the Tories get in.

London UNISON Regional Committee: The Health Brigade & the Forgotten Brigade

This morning was the quarterly meeting of the lay regional committee in central London. I was there in my capacity as regional finance convener and had to present the finance report.

Main picture is of the new banner for the UNISON Health Brigade (dedicated to the memory of John Kelly Chandler). On the left is Bromley Health branch secretary, Micky Crouch, and on right Deputy regional convener, Conroy Lawrence.

There were a number of important items on the agenda. However, I will concentrate on just two issues. The first was the prospect of national strike action over the 2008 local government pay offer. Recently there was a consultative ballot of the “final” offer by the employers of a below inflation and average earnings offer of 2.45% (3.3% for the most low paid). This is a sensitive issue and it is possible that we may have strike action in the near future. So, I will just say that sometime soon I will post some ideas on the future direction of the union with regard to such industrial action. We need to have a Plan B.

The second issue was the likelihood of the Labour Government and Labour Councils being re-elected in the next election. While I am largely indifferent to declared Trotskyite revolutionaries banging on about the ‘orrible quasi-fascist Labour government and how it deserves defeat.

I was somewhat “fed up” (to say the least) to hear a Labour Party member and UNISON NEC member openly rejoicing and gloating at the prospect of a Labour Party defeat at the next election (on the lines of “I told them so”) and looking “forward” to the prospect of rowing with a future Conservative government. He claimed that Labour had done “practically nothing” for working people while in power. Thankfully, apart from a couple of sneering acolytes, most were shocked at this out burst even if they were very critical of Labour.

Now, apart from the fact that this analysis is simply wrong and there is nothing inevitable about the prospect of a Tory victory and it is certainly nothing to celebrate. I think that such comments expose the banality of the extremist left with the Party. They would rather be in opposition than compromise “their politics”.

What is wrong with these people? Don’t they understand the difference that Labour has made to poor pensioners whose lives have been transformed by pension credits? How the minimum wage has put money in the pockets of the lowest paid. The huge amounts of money poured into Schools and hospitals. Yes, the government has made mistakes; yes they have not always been as bold and brave as we would have wanted. Yes, you have the right to criticise the government and work for change.

However, to dismiss everything that the Labour government has done and seemingly welcome future decades of divisive Tory misrule in council, assembly and government is simply and completely unforgivable.