Courage and the Labour Party (Part 1)

In previous blogposts, I have praised Keir Starmer's caution as essential in establishing the Labour Party as a credible opposition, one that had to earn the right to be listened to. However, it is now almost a year since Starmer's election as leader. The Conservatives are now 5% ahead in the polls. I will deal with the reasons for this puzzling phenomenon in a future blogpost. (After all, people do not usually rush to support criminal negligence). However, it is clear that further action is needed. I have some suggestions.

Pandemic. Labour is frightened at the moment of appearing to be a 'disloyal' and 'unpatriotic' opposition, one that does not clamour to support the government in a time of national emergency. The government indeed appears to think that it is entitled to unconditional public support, regardless of its competence. The danger is that Labour's criticisms appear to be too timid and do not offer a clear alternative. Too many people are concluding that Labour could do no better in this so-called 'unprecedented' situation. This assumption is manifestly incorrect ; yet most voters could be forgiven for thinking so, as they do not follow the twists and turns of Labour's policy evolution. The government sees the vaccine as the 'magic bullet' which will let them escape culpability for thousands of unnecessary deaths. Labour must not allow this to happen. These are the points which Labour should be emphasising at every opportunity. First, a decade of austerity has left every part of the public sector woefully unprepared for the pandemic. Second, it must identify the terrible failures of private enterprise (e.g. contact tracing, testing) and contrast those with the success of the NHS in rolling out vaccinations, and the success of vaccine manufacture : the consequence of a successful partnership between the State and private enterprise. Third, it must point out the incoherence and fragmentation of the care home sector, in particular the destructive dominance of private equity, and propose a care sector which is fully integrated with the NHS. Fourth, it must criticise the faillure to prepare schools for a period of inevitable disruption. Measures which should have been taken include the appropriate refurbishment of schools ; prioritisation of schools for distribution of masks, testing and contact tracing ; planning of blended learning ; provision of free broadband and all necessary equipment for those pupils who needed it. (To be continued).