Blog 2023 Malcolm Blair-Robinson

An idea to stimulate economic growth without further government borrowing. Written in plain English and very easy to follow, this is the only really fresh approach out there to the intractable problems of the UK economy, and it is just beginning to be noticed in important places. Buy! Download only .99p Paperback £2.99

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The arguments put forward by this blog about the Labour leadership campaign that the party needed to move left, because the centre occupied by the Tories has shifted to the left, are now more or less mainstream. There are still a few lost souls from New Labour who imagine that cosying up to business is the road to victory, but the compelling evidence of over four million votes lost to the party step by step, election by election in the New Labour era is compelling; as is the Cameron victory on fewer votes than any Tory victory since well before WWII. In other words the working class have stopped voting Labour in very large numbers and mostly are not voting at all or voting UKIP. In Scotland the SNP which is to the left of Labour, wiped the latter out.

The support for Jeremy Corbyn, who began as the outsider and who is now making the running because of his uncompromising left wing agenda, confirms this analysis. New Labour appeals to pink Tories but not to Labour voters. But if Osborne retakes the pink vote, Labour, however it styles itself, can never win without the red vote holding solid in its support. Comparison with Michael Foot is misguided. He took Labour left when the centre had moved to the right and met disaster. Taking Labour right when the centre has shifted left would meet the same fate.

This penny has now for the most part dropped. Any Burnham, driven from his lead at the start by the rise of Corbyn, has shifted left also; today he is saying he will re-nationalize the railways. That would be popular as the public has never really supported the weird franchise system, but caution must be exercised on the new road left. Offering up just a Clause Four type menu will not do. The left must show it has a coherent economic strategy which will work, that goes way beyond tinkering with benefits and tax rates. It will need to re-establish a modern version of the financial structure which underpinned the security of working people which the Thatcher consensus unravelled.

This means that the mutual building societies, friendly societies, banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions will have to be rebuilt, so that working people no longer have to look to the City and meet the demands of shareholders, but can look, as they did for decades, closer to home and in doing so safeguard not only their individual financial welfare whether it is saving or borrowing, but also protect and support each other by doing so.There is a lot of work to be done, but done properly it will transform the lives of millions for the better.