Manifesto Review: Labour (England & Wales)

Due to other commitments, I was unable to take time to read the Labour manifesto (the actual one, not the cartoon version) on it’s day of launch (although I did have time to look at the cover). By the time I got sat down with the document in question, I’d already read comments in the papers and online about the manifesto, which led me to expect much more meat in the manifesto then I found there.

I was expecting policy to leap out at me, things that Labour candidates on the doorstep could point swing voters to as something which would aim to visibly change things for the better and make a snappy soundbite, similar to Tony Blair’s Tough on Crime message in 1997. Instead we have pages of promises of investment and admendments to older Labour policies, such as shaking up the hospital system again.

A few policies take my interest however:

• No Stamp Duty for first time buyers on all house purchases below £250,000 for two years, paid for by a five per cent rise on homes worth more then £1 million. – I find it hard to fault this policy, given that the house prices in Scotland are considerably lower then elsewhere and this could really help get people into the housing market up here.
• Legally binding guarantees for patients including the right to cancer test results within one week of referral, and a maximum of 18 weeks’ wait for treatment or the offer of going private. - This goal can’t really be faulted given that cancer is one of the biggest killers in the UK, however the legally binding aspect of it could increase difficulties for already over-streched NHS resources.
• A new national care service to ensure free care in the home for those with the greatest care needs and a cap on the costs of residential care so that everyone’s homes and savings are protected from care charges after two years in a care home. – This could have been a much larger part of Labour’s manifesto, but seems to have been scaled down, probably due to questions over funding it.
• Achieve around 40 per cent low-carbon electricity by 2020 and create 400,000 new green jobs by 2013. - This policy (like much of the green policy in the Labour manifesto) is largely due to targets set in international treaty, which DEFRA is already on target to meet.
• Referenda, held on the same day, for moving to the Alternative Vote for elections to the House of Commons and to a democratic and accountable Second Chamber. - Gordon Brown has already come under fire for his damascene conversion to constitutional reform. It will be extremely interesting to see if it appeals to voters, after all, the Lib Dems have had limited success with their similar policies in the past.
• Legislation to ensure Parliaments sit for a fixed term and an All Party Commission to chart a course ti a Written Constitution. - Fixed term Parliament and a written constitution are much needed in Britain. They are unlikely to have great appeal to the British public however, with vocal support for a constitutional generally coming from academics and those who are extremely familiar with politics in the UK.

A few things I was genuinely surprised to see:

• Control immigration through our Australian-style points-based system, ensuring that as growth returns we see rising levels of employment and wages, not rising immigration, and requiring newcomers to earn citizenship and the entitlements it brings. – I am extremely dubious about any political party rushing into immigration policy or taking an election stand on it, not least when they trumpet “British Values” as a reason to exclude people from the UK. This policy could only to extend immigrants from countries outside the EU and possibly the Commonwealth.
• A golden decade of sport with the 2012 Olympics as a great national and world-wide celebration. - True, the UK is hosting the 2012 Olympics, 2014 Commonwealth Games and 2015 Rugby World Cup, but this policy has very little other then new facilities in London and increased sports in schools in England and Wales to back it up.
• Reform the UN, International Financial Institutions, the G8 and G20 and NATO to adapt to the new global challenges. - Britain is one of nearly 200 states participating in the UN. As COP-15 demonstrated, Britain isn’t even a particularly big player in the modern world, with India, China and the collective EU providing much stronger voices. The idea that Britain could drive pretty far reaching reform of these bodies within the next five years, having done little to them since 1997, is utterly absurd.

Overall, the Labour Manifesto for England and Wales is a document which seems lacking in style and substance. Compared to previous Labour manifestos, it seems that having been in government for 13 years, Labour are struggling to find policies to engage with the public on. If swing voters do pick up a copy of the Labour manifesto, I think they’ll have to look hard to find something to convince them to vote Labour.

5 out of 10.

Political Book Review: 50 People Who Buggered Up Britain

I could not be said to be a fan of Quentin Letts. While he is startlingly witty at times, this is often tempered by what I can only describe as a deliberate agenda to wind up the left and appeal to the Old Boys, who sit, tutting over brandy about the youth of today and the demise of national service. I suspect, as a Guardian-reading, left-leaning Scottish nationalist I am not exactly within his target audience. Of course, that was not going to stop me from reading this, not least because the revised edition of the book was a gift.

The title of the revised edition is actually slightly inaccurate. The original volume, consisting of 50 short essays, came out at the start of the recession, long before the full impact of the action taken by individual bankers was fully known. This is accounted for in this edition, which adds five figures who Letts deems to have buggered up Britain in the past year and a half. Together, these essays take up a total of 278 pages, interspersed with caricatures of Letts’ subjects.

To give Letts his due, the selection of people who he rounds his sharped pen upon is extremely varied. It includes six of the last seven Prime Ministers (John Major being the surprising exception), spin doctors and advisers from both the Labour and Tory Governments, journalists, broadcasters, publishers, two fictional children and “Webonymous”. If nothing else, it’s at least a broad selection.

The criticisms rounded upon people are also reasonably broad, often lacking in detail and in some cases surprising. Gordon Brown during his time as Prime Minister would likely have been an easy target for Letts, but instead he elects to tackle Brown’s micro-managerial style as Chancellor, likewise James Callaghan is tackled for the decimalisation of the Pound rather then for the Winter of Discontent.

Admittedly, in several cases, notably Richard Beeching and Diana Spencer, I found myself agreeing wholeheartedly with Letts’ criticisms. Others, such as Margaret Thatcher, made quite valid points but didn’t touch on wider issues. The majority were harder to agree with in particular when Letts’ threw in words such as “unBritish” or made thinly veiled digs at the nationality or sexuality of his foes. Two or three are particularly nasty, focusing on the physical attributes of the person in question at length before getting to their greater contribution.

Overall, this is not a bad book. Letts has a distinct and readable style. I would, however, be loath to recommend it to most given the uncalled for nastiness of some of the entries and the lack of detail.