It has become clear over the past few days that Ed Miliband has started his journey to No.10 Downing Street. There are multiple reasons for this:-
• The Conservative Party is hopelessly divided over Europe and how to properly deal with the threat of UKIP,
• The Liberal Democrats have alienated what little support they had by becoming subsumed into the Tories within the coalition,
• The Conservative rank and file underestimate the level of support for Labour,
• Only Labour has any credible policies to try and deal with the increasingly parlous state of the British economy and wider society.
Labour's pledge to sack ATOS plus the introduction of a Disability Hate Crime Law is not only right, but will also find favour with various disability groups, a far from insubstantial demographic group.
Labour’s pledge to create 200,000 Apprenticeships, whilst also increasing by 1000 per cent the fine levied on firms who pay less than the minimum wage will impact hugely on reducing the number of young people who are NEETs (Not in Education, Employment or Training) and go some way to ensuring that ALL employees have the dignity of something approaching a reasonable wage packet. As a significant proportion of those on minimum wage are people under the age of 24, we can see Labour’s potential appeal to the young. This will simply be reinforced by the pledge to lower the voting age to 16 (and not before time).
Labour have also pledged to right other wrongs perpetrated by the current government. They will reverse the Tory tax cut for Hedge Funds, reverse the Pension Tax Relief for millionaires, and, introduce an increased Bankers’ Bonus Tax. This will surely resonate with the majority of the public who remain aware of the role of the financial sector in creating the global economic crisis. Labour has also pledged to create a State-Owned Rail Company that would compete and win back Rail Franchises (in other words nationalisation but within a privatisation framework – genius).
Then we have the Bedroom Tax. This is surely the Tories Achilles heel. It is unpopular across the political spectrum as it is unfair, unwieldy and unworkable. Labour has pledged to reverse it, whilst also promising free childcare worth £5000 for all three and four year olds, and crucially a pledge to cancel those contracts that equate to the piecemeal privatisation of the NHS.
In short, Labour has gone some way to regaining its position as the welfare statist party. It isn’t socialism, whatever Ed Miliband might say, but it is genuine support for a significant public sector and a welfare state. Clearly a corporate welfare state as in continental Europe or a social democratic welfare state as in the Scandinavian countries is not even on the horizon, but it is a damn sight better than Obamacare or Cameron’s Big Society, and guaranteed to strike a chord with the British public.