THE result in Crewe and Nantwich was a disaster, but it should not have come as a surprise. The hardest question Labour needs to ask itself now is: did we, actually, deserve defeat? Only if that question is addressed with ruthless and forensic attention to the political health of the Labour Party and its Government can the party examine the next question: what do we do about it?
Unfortunately, there are too many commentators in the senior ranks of the party who seem unwilling to concede some of the real reasons for the result, preferring a mix of self-delusion and denial – the weakest, and most cowardly, excuse being that the Government was hit by a bout of mid-term blues. Anyone who seriously believes that is not part of the answer to the future.
The sad and only honest conclusion is that Labour indisputably deserved to lose. And for the same reasons, if the right lessons are not learned before then, it will deserve to lose the next general election. No one could have determined the timing of the by-election, but coming when it did, and where it did, it provided the perfect litmus test of the national mood. National issues – the toxic 10p tax, Gordon Brown’s leadership, the specific hostility to road and fuel taxes and the general perception of a Labour Government out of touch with the interests of those it was elected to defend – swept away, as in any high profile by-election, any attempt to keep the issues local.
To be a national barometer has been the general, and not necessarily unhealthy, role thrust upon the unfortunate, or fortunate, voters in by-elections throughout recent political history. Except that where it did surface, the local campaign appeared at best clumsy, at worst racist and overall suffering the same enervated malaise and lack of clear purpose that is afflicting the party nationally and in power.
The change in direction that is now being demanded must be bold. The Prime Minister has nothing to lose (but the election). Being “on your side” must be made to mean something, by addressing housing, low pay, rising prices, insecurity at work and tax rates at the very top. It must find a way out of the current Catch-22 over the fuel hike by helping those less well off in rural areas while reining in the profits from the oil companies and sticking to its green agenda. If that can’t be done, there is no purpose to this Labour Government.
It must step up its attacks on the Tories and, as we urged last week, expose them by defining the nasty party emerging from the caring Conservative chrysalis created by David Cameron; the latest example of which is the workfare agenda of “boot camps” for the jobless. The Government would do better to abandon some of its recent rhetoric in this area, too, and concentrate more on the causes of welfare and social deprivation. Rejuvenation, with policies that fit today’s needs, is what is required. It is no small task and one that is perhaps beyond the current leadership. Yes, “new” Labour is dead. Not only because it was not Labour enough, but because it is failing to offer voters, especially traditional supporters, anything new to meet their expectations from a Labour Government.
MPs are doing themselves, Parliament, the Government and the democratic process no good. The fact that most stand for election under the honourable motivation of making a positive contribution to the common wealth is being eclipsed by the folly and avarice displayed in the moral abuse of expenses.
MPs should be paid a decent wage determined by a binding decision from an independent body. They should not be allowed to vote on their own financial arrangements unless it is a confirmatory vote and – as in the United States system – does not take effect until the following term.
The relentless media campaign to “bust” MPs as corrupt is unfair, but any criticism is diluted by this week’s disclosures of what MPs spend their expenses on – from a garden pergola to life assurance on their partners. The canvassed solution of a flat-rate payment of £23,000 without the need for receipts is an insult to the electorate and a blatant attempt at an institutionalised cover-up.
The probity of MPs lies at the heart of our democratic system, but this scandal threatens the democratic covenant between electors and the elected.
