In the final instalment of our Pre-Election series, Bob Piper explains why the Labour Party is still worth your vote. I am a Labour Party member, a socialist, a life-long trade unionist, and a Labour councillor, and over the next two months I will be tramping the streets with my comrades trying to persuade up to 10,000 people in my Ward to vote Labour on May 6th.
Why would we ask people to vote Labour? Not for war in the Middle East, 42-day detention, privatisation of public services and a continuing commitment to the nuclear arms race... that’s for sure.
Nor do I expect an incoming Labour Government to a fundamental and irreversible shift in the balance of power and wealth in favour of working people and their families. I wish it were so, but I am not that naive, and more importantly, neither are the electorate.
There is much in the Manifesto of the Green Party, and some within that of the Liberal Democrat Party that I can find resonance with, not to mention those of Respect and the Communist Party. One of my greatest regrets over the last decade is the loss of so many good socialists who have given up on Labour’s cause to join smaller parties or single issue groups.
But the reality is, Labour represents the best left-of-centre hope of defeating the Conservatives. Given our current electoral system a vote for the Greens or Respect is, in all but the most extreme circumstances, an electoral protest vote which will assist the Conservatives. I understand why people may wish to record their protest at the ballot box, but unlike many who are too young or whose memories are too short, I fully recall the devastation inflicted upon the working class in Britain by the Tories during the 1980s and 1990s.
So when people say that Labour hasn’t ended child poverty, or reduced the gap between the very richest and the poorest in our society, I agree, we have not done enough. But in 1996 I sat in a primary school building in one of the poorest boroughs in this country trying to finds ways in which we could mend the a leaking classroom roof without having to sack cleaning or catering staff. If my father was diagnosed with cancer, then he could be waiting up to 18 months for treatment in a hospital built as an extension to the workhouse in the nineteenth century. There was no minimum wage, no Surestart or Children’s Centres, and you could be sacked for being lesbian or gay with no comeback in law.
None of these things represent the ‘fundamental and irreversible’ transformation of society, and those of us who are socialists in the Labour Party know that only too well. Many people who now feel relatively comfortable economically will vote Conservative, or Liberal Democrat, and they will probably not even notice the changeover. However, for those people in our most deprived areas, those living on the margins, the differences will be all too real.
It is for those people that I will be saying, on May 6th, vote Labour.
Bob Piper is a Labour councillor in Sandwell, West Midlands. He blogs at bobpiper.co.uk
22 comments:
"Not for war in the Middle East, 42-day detention...Nor do I expect an incoming Labour Government to a fundamental and irreversible shift in the balance of power and wealth in favour of working people and their families...So when people say that Labour hasn’t ended child poverty, or reduced the gap between the very richest and the poorest in our society, I agree..."
So you admit Labour's been a failure even on its own supporters' terms? So why vote for them?
"Labour represents the best left-of-centre hope of defeating the Conservatives."
Waah. Even though we've made an appalling mess of the country, We're not TORIES. Vote for us.
Pathetic. Feeble. And I expected better from you, Councillor Piper.
Jackart, you missed a massive chunk of what Cllr Piper wrote in his bostin piece. The one bit that says:
"But in 1996 I sat in a primary school building in one of the poorest boroughs in this country trying to finds ways in which we could mend the a leaking classroom roof without having to sack cleaning or catering staff. If my father was diagnosed with cancer, then he could be waiting up to 18 months for treatment in a hospital built as an extension to the workhouse in the nineteenth century. There was no minimum wage, no Surestart or Children’s Centres, and you could be sacked for being lesbian or gay with no comeback in law."
I guess it didnt fit your narrative.
Yes, the Labour government has been quite bad.
But the truth is, we've got FPTP and it's gonna be either the Tories, or Labour.
Those old enough to remember havnt forgotten what 18 years of Conservative rule did to this country. That's the crux of the matter.
This is why I will vote Labour.
At least I tried to lay out a positive programme of government from the party I support. Most of you disagree with the Education policy or localism, or whatever, but under my post, the comments were about POLICY. No-one commented on the "labour leaves a mess for the Tories to clean up".
You all agree? No?
The ONLY thing labour supporters can say is "WAH! the Tories eat babies".
No-one has even attempted to lay out a positive reason to vote labour.
Incidentally, can anyone here explain to me what "Strengthening fairness in communities" means?
By Labour`s reckoning we will never end child poverty because it is all relative and it is nothing especially to do with children its just adult poverty spun. It is capitalism that has ended poverty
I think Bob, who I have no doubt is an excellent Councillor , has made an honest case and its not fair to pick on admissions of disappointment he has, in good faith, made We want honesty don’t we ?
What confuses me though is the idea that working families in benefit from New Labour . Workless families , single mothers , Public Sector unionised workers , I can see why they would vote with their wallets but is Bob Piper seriously asking us to believe that the taxation required for his “transformation” will come from the wealthy ? It will of course come form working people , in the form of National Insurance for example
Has he nothing to say about where the wealth is to come from ? no sense of the rage amongst working people that they have been ripped off to fund New Labour’s friends , their pensions , their sinecures , their security .
"Strengthening fairness in communities"
Appointing another work -shy waster to foster community relations though the medium of face painting ?
Councillor Piper,
you seem like a good honest politician.
Come with us and join the Trade Union Socialist Coalition.
http://www.tusc.org.uk/
socialist sam: "Councillor Piper,
you seem like a good honest politician".
A rare breed these days!
Funny because I've just come from a meeting to discuss cuts, the school has to make £100,000 of savings the head teacher said we will be laying off three canteen staff, and a groundsman, we will also be looking at two teaching assistants going, as i was sitting in the hall we all had to move the chairs because the rain was coming in.
We have spent thirteen years living off the banking industry and the financial sector living a lie, now the lie has been exposed. My local hospital has decided to close three wards with the loss of nurses cleaners and porters, not one single manager will go, when we asked they are to be redeployed.
yes vote new Labour to have what, labour always goes back to Thatcher, yet if you look at labour records it's not so great now is it.
"But the truth is, we've got FPTP and it's gonna be either the Tories, or Labour."
Well, not necessarily, in fact thanks to FPTP I live in a safe Labour seat, & can vote for anyone I like without it leading to a Tory victory.
I find it questionable at best that Brown would be preferable to Cameron. It won't make me any friends here but I think we need to decisively reject this government. But there are very few of us who live in deciding Lab/Con marginals anyway. If I go & vote for the Liberal Democrats, you can hardly blame me if Old Etonians sacrifice babies to Satan on the morning of the 9th of May or whatever day it is.
Are there any Labour MPs that those who are generally loyal to the party wouldn't give their support to? I am thinking of the right-wing, authoritarian elements in particular.
Note how Councillor Piper didn't feel the need to rail on the Jackart post but here comes the attack Tory vomiting all over the place.
Very edifying indeed, makes you look great oh and Newmania, well done for managing to not mention immigration, although you then fucked that up by trotting out tired old cliche and opinions that show a large disconnect between reality and your fevered imagination.
You couldn't make this vile shit up.
What's wrong, Hoffman-Gill. Don't like debate? For all his sins Cllr Piper's always engaged in honest debate honestly. He's been over to my blog, ususally calling me an idiot, but with some wit.
He also loves cricket so he can't be all bad!
My point is that even a tribal Labour man, red rose (and flag before that) to his core, like Mr Piper stuggles to find a reason to vote FOR the Labour party, how the hell is a swing voter supposed to get off his arse and support Brown's lot?
The disagreement on the Tory thread was mostly good-natured. Here there's a sense of hurt feelings. Perhaps the Labour tribe doesn't like having light shone on the horror that is the 2010 Labour party under Brown, but 'habit' and fear of the Tory bogeyman is not a basis for a Government mandate.
In an election year, I will be making my arguments wherever I am allowed. Here, Lib con, my blog and any of the Blogs in my reader.
I also spend a lot of effort on the right-wing persuading UKIPPERS and Libertarians to give the Tories their vote.
I don't see why you should object to this?
Robert... where do you live? Which school? Which hospital, please?
I think if Bob represented what the Labour Party still was I'd still be a member but sadly he is one of an ever dwindling band of, I think I'm fair in saying, genuinely social democratic members.
Whilst I'm very happy that Bob and people like Bob (he's not on his own yet) have slowed Labour's rightward lurch I'm not comfortable with the idea of describing this government as in any way left as it has bombed and privatised its way through the last 13 years whilst it has beefed up police powers way beyond any reasonable point.
While I hope Labour win the election (outright, not in coalition) I think the crucial political questions the left will be facing in the next few years will be the same whatever the outcome.
The cuts agenda is completely accepted by all three main parties, although in different flavours, and people like myself and Bob will both find ourselves thrown into campaigns to defend public services whichever party wins.
For me that means we need to be creating a principled alternative to this center-right Parliamentary consensus.
Bob is trying to do that inside Labour, and good luck to him, but it seems to me that it's more helpful to build up forces to Labour's left to remind them that they cannot take our votes for granted in order to keep out the Tories.
It is a fact though that the voting system is in urgent need of change.
Until we have the current bicephalus communism too many people are going to vote for either Labour or Tories while holding their nose.
Of course most people are bound to vote "against" the other main party as opposed to a group they actively approve of.
It was the same with the Tories in 1992, remember? Many people were simply afraid that Neil Kinnock would win - cue the (in)famous Sun front page and the rest.
When average turnout is 59-60% and the majority of Britons are so disillusioned with both Labour and Tories I think it's only fair that a more representative system should be brought in.
Perfection doesn't exist, but it works alright in Wales, Scotland and the London Assembly.
One more point. If I were a Tory I would be very worried that with such a shit, old, discredited, worn out government that's been in power for too long, an uncharismatic unelected PM, the biggest economic crisis in 60 (80?)years, ministers coming and going like a revolving door, a failed and costly military adventure and all the rest, they're still not at all sure of a victory.
That should ring alarm bells about the state of the main alternative, don't you find?
If I were a Tory I would be very worried that with such a shit, old, discredited, ...etc....they're still not at all sure of a victory.
Partly agree and partly it is because we are not paying for it yet .People are under the impression Gordon Brown has saved us . There will be a terribly reckoning for this.
PS
I must say the contrast between the indefatigable Coucillor Piper and some of the shrill name calling hereabouts is entirely to his credit.
As for PR I`m with Lloyd George , agin' it. Not sure why no subsequent Liberal leader has agreed ...
Before this post finally shuffles off its mortal coil, can I thank Claude for hosting this series, which I have found to be very interesting, and the debates mostly conducted in a civilised and comradely fashion, even though we usually disagree about outcomes.
Just to wrap up my own contribution, with a reply to Jackart. I'm always a bit surprised when those who bang on most about individual liberty actually appear to swallow a Party's whole manifesto as if it were carved on tablets of stone and delivered from the Almighty. Good God man, be an individual.
Yes, I am critical of many things New Labour has done, but that doesn't mean, in Jackart's words, I think Labour has been "a failure", or "made an appalling mess of the country".
Did Jackart think that Major and Thatcher entrenching us further and further into the EU - that Heath took us into in the first place - (hey, no referendums there, guys and gals) was such a great thing? Other than rhetoric (and Thatcher wrote the bible on that one) does he really believe Cameron will take us one inch further away from Brussels? If so, cloud cuckoo land can welcome a new resident. If not, presumably he thinks every Tory Government in the last 40 years was a "failure".
My argument wasn't just 'keep the Tories out' - although that is a worthwhile argument on its own - but the major investment in our schools, hospitals, police force, the services for children, the minimum wage and equalities legislation, are achievements worth protecting.
And finally... Jim, I agree with much of the Green agenda - not all, but see above in respect of not accepting everything. My loyalty to Labour lies through its links to the trade union movement, still the biggest organisation of the working class in this country. (Oh, and I consider myself a democratic socialist, not a social democrat which has rather different connotations for us).
Anyway, thanks all, and Claude. Let's do it all again for the next election... in October.
Fair enough on the definitions - I guess I was using the term social democrat in the older fashioned / European sense and wasn't really thinking about the SDP!
Whatever the terms I'm happy to define you as being the best part of Labour and a decent chap - best of luck in the coming elections.
I don't think anyone could accuse me of taking my party's manifesto as a whole as set in stone, and obviously in a 500-word post, I've picked the best of it! For the record, I'm fairly relaxed about immigration, and take civil liberties WAY more seriously than, say Chris Grayling.
Whoever we all vote for, I am thankful to live in a democracy, and I wish Cllr Piper all the best for the upcoming campaign. I hope to bump into him at Old Trafford one day!
I mean Edgebaston. Obiously *FacePalm*
Actually you mean Edgbaston.
More likely Headingley or Scarborough, actually.
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