Yes, Ed Miliband needs to be bold – on the issues that really matter
|
Version 0 of 1. You can almost set your clock by the time in the electoral cycle when opposition parties decide to embrace localism. David Cameron was chuntering on about it at this point in the cycle in the run-up to the 2010 election. Now the glitterati of the London thinktank set have risen up to say that Labour's big idea should be the "devolution of state institutions, by giving away power and resources to our nations, regions, cities, localities and, where possible, directly to the people". In other words the "new localism" rides again. No doubt the idea goes down a storm in thinktank-land and the political salons of North London. But, if you have ever had to actually knock on a door to persuade someone to vote Labour, you only have to close your eyes to imagine what a hardbitten voter in a key marginal in (for instance) Essex will say to the idea that Labour's big idea to improve their life is the "devolution of state institutions" What the people who inhabit thinktanks don't understand is that, whilst people like them are happy to spend their spare time debating the niceties of service delivery, ordinary people just want good services delivered competently. Many people do not have the computers to access the data the thinktank set want to flood them with. Others wouldn't be confident analysing it, even if they could access it. And most people after a hard day's work, perhaps after working two jobs, do not want to pay a babysitter in order to go to interminable meetings, which will inevitably be dominated by those who actually like talking in meetings. Nor will people be fooled. A cut is a cut whether it is delivered by a nation, region, city or locality. So the idea that a Labour government can avoid blame for the further cuts, which are inevitable if we embrace Tory austerity, by passing responsibility down the line to a "locality" is delusional. I am all in favour of Ed Miliband being bold. But the evidence is that he is more than capable of it. It was a bold decision to run against this brother for the leadership in the first place. And on Murdoch, and then on the Syria conflict, he has shown a willingness to take brave decisions that many of his detractors would not be capable of. But I want him to take bold decisions on issues that actually matter to people like: a national living wage; bringing rail back into public ownership; a major housebuilding programme and major investment in childcare. Having drawn their swords in favour of their wonk obsessions, the thinktank set need to sheath them again. The general election will not be won or lost on the ground they set out. Instead, we need to set out a clear policy offer that activists can understand and , above all, actually make ordinary people's lives better. |