Why I’ll be voting Labour…

theflanderspigeonmurderer:

Yesterday theamazingspideruly asked me why I was so committed to the Labour Party so here I have done my best to explain my position - I tried not to go on too long or be too ranty but I’m not confident I succeeded haha.

For the record, I’m not a swing-voter in any way - I’m a card-carrying party member and joined Labour in 2010, admittedly as a somewhat knee-jerk reaction to David Cameron becoming PM - I’d grown up under Labour, they seemed like the natural party of government to me and it was quite a shock to have the Tories back - but after a little bit of soul-searching, I decided to stay. Before 2010 I’d had brief flirtations with the Scottish Socialist Party and latterly the Liberal Democrats, however when faced with the very real threat of a Conservative-led government, I did not want to waste my time with protest parties. I wanted to support a progressive party that was also a serious party of government. Labour is a social democratic party but it’s a broad church - it has to be, in order to appeal to enough of the electorate to win a majority - there are centrists, liberals, social democrats, socialists, and even communists in the party (up here you’ll find an ardent Blairite Labour candidate having a drink with a self-proclaimed Maoist Labour councillor - neither of which are exactly my cup of tea but there you go!). Fundamentally we all believe in a more equal society, that in times of austerity the burden should not fall on the most vulnerable, and that government has a responsibility to look after those at the bottom, invest in public services, invest in jobs, and minimise the damage done by capitalism. As long as Labour maintains ties to the unions, as long as Labour remains the only realistic challenge to the Conservative Party, and as long as we have FPTP, Labour will always have my support.

     Now, I don’t agree with everything Labour has ever said or done. Far from it. There have been some terrible decisions, some wasteful decisions, and some pointless decisions, and the good decisions often haven’t gone far enough for my personal tastes. However, what party has a better record in government? In my view, almost everything good and progressive that has come out of Westminster came about because of the Labour Party.

So why should you consider giving your vote to Labour in May?

• The first (and least nuanced) point I would make is simply that Labour is the only alternative to the Tories under this voting system. Voting for any other centre-left/left party will only make it more likely David Cameron will be waltzing back into Number 10 - and speaking as a Scottish Labour member, y’know, obviously we’re being hammered by the SNP just now, and people I’ve spoken to seem to be under the impression we could have a Labour/SNP coalition without appreciating the fact that if the SNP do win enough seats to play king-maker, it’s unlikely Labour will be the biggest party.  And it’s a similar situation in marginal seats across the UK - even the smallest swing in support towards another party like the Greens could rob Labour of the crucial seats it needs to beat the Tories. So obviously a lot depends on which constituency you’re in - I am absolutely not above tactical voting and would encourage people to vote for whichever party stands the best chance against the Tories. I know it’s a simplistic and uninspiring argument, tactical voting, but it is a necessary one.
• Secondly, my man Ed Miliband. I already liked Ed, I voted for him for leader (twice - union vote ayyye) and I think he has shown himself to be a man of courage, integrity, steel, and resolve. Ever since he became leader he has suffered an incessant onslaught from the press, often enduring very personal attacks, but he has not backed down and in my opinion, emerged a stronger character because of it. He is unafraid of standing up to powerful vested interests: he challenged News International when every PM from Thatcher onwards were falling over themselves to get Murdoch onside; he supported full implementation of the Leveson proposals despite the vicious and visceral backlash from a largely right-wing media; he stood up to big business and the abuse of corporate power, making a well-judged conference speech which forced even David Cameron to copy the language of ‘crony capitalism’; he stood up to the energy companies, proposing price freezes and breaking up the big six; and he defeated the government over intervention in Syria (it’s conventional for the Opposition to support the government on military intervention) and recognition of Palestinian statehood (he did not choose the easy option of a free vote but instead led his party into the Aye lobby) - whether you agree with them or not, both of these were brave and controversial decisions, not to mention that defeating the government is an impressive feat for an opposition leader. I believe that, if given the opportunity, Ed Miliband would make a bold, decisive, principled, and intelligent Prime Minister.
• Thirdly, I’d like to point to some past Labour achievements:
• Under Attlee: the establishment of *drumroll* THE NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE and the modern welfare state incl. social security and childcare, decolonisation of large swathes of the Empire, the acceptance and entrenchment of Keynesian principles (such as full-employment as the responsibility of government), nationalisation of public utilities, new standards and regulations for nurseries and childcare, and public access to national parks.
• Under Wilson: abolition of the death penalty, legalisation of homosexuality, 83% top-rate of tax (up from 75%), liberalisation of laws on divorce, and abortion, legislation against gender and race-based discrimination, abolition of theatre censorship, university expansion which notably saw greater access for women, establishment of the Open University, education outspent defence for the first time, and most importantly of all, two Eurovision victories (and a third under Jim Callaghan, just sayin’).
• Under New Labour: the minimum wage, devolution in Wales and Scotland, peace in Northern Ireland, massive and much-needed investment in health and education, investment in early years, Sure Start, tax credits, 600,000 children and 900,000 pensioners pulled out of poverty, the Educational Maintenance Allowance, the Winter Fuel Allowance, cancelled Third World debt, trebled international aid, regeneration of city centres, free entry to museums and galleries, civil partnerships, repealed Section 28, 50% top-rate of tax (up from 40%), and the fox-hunting ban. The inequality gap did not shrink under New Labour, however growing inequality did slow down significantly and according to the IFS the gap would have been much worse under a Conservative government.
• Meanwhile under the Coalition: 1 million using food banks, nearly 2 million unemployed, 1.4 million stuck on zero-hour contracts, more than 522,000 hit by the Bedroom Tax, 250,000 earning less than the minimum wage, over 3 million hit with overnight sanctions on Job Seekers’ Allowance, homelessness up 26%, child poverty up 13%, 866 Sure Start centres closed, EMA abolished, real terms cuts in public sector pay, tax cuts for those at the top, benefit cuts for those at the bottom, the Health and Social Care Act, the disgraceful handling of benefits and fit-to-work assessments by Atos and others, trebling of tuition fees, VAT raised to 20%, and the longest fall in living standards since the 1870s.
  
• Labour in 2015: a quick dash through some policies - obviously the finished manifestos with full deets and costing aren’t out yet but we have a few things to go on: raising the minimum wage to £8, government departments will pay living wage, banning zero-hour contracts, abolishing the Bedroom Tax, higher taxes for those at the top (50% top-rate of tax (up from 45%), a mansion tax, a bankers’ bonus tax, higher banking levy) to pay for further investment in the NHS and jobs for young people, repealing Lansley’s Health and Social Care Act, breaking up energy companies and freezing energy prices till 2017, tackling tax avoidance and blacklisting tax havens, 50/50 female/male cabinet, political reform (votes at 16, replacing the Lords with an elected senate), 200,000 new affordable homes each year, an LGBT envoy, further devolution in Wales, Scotland, and regions of England, a paid jobs guarantee for young people who have been unemployed for a year, lowering tuition fees to £6000, a bigger focus on technical degrees and more apprenticeships, investment in high-skilled, low-carbon jobs…and much more to come, I’m sure! 
• A final point: according to the IFS, this is the starkest choice the electorate have been offered between Labour and the Tories ‘since at least 1992’. The Tories will cut spending to the lowest level since the 1930s, cutting £55 billion in their quest to achieve a surplus budget regardless of the disastrous effects on public services and the most vulnerable in society. By contrast Labour will aim to get rid of the deficit with proposed cuts of £7 billion, while raising taxes and borrowing £25 billion to invest instead of slashing and burning. In my view, in times of ‘austerity’, it is imperative that, before anything else, we keep the Tories out and the only way to do that is by electing a Labour government.

If anyone has anything to add (or indeed, correct), do please feel free.