by René Lavanchy
MINISTERS from across the Government indicated a shift away from “new” Labour’s terms of debate as they promised to redress the balance of power between society and the financial markets.
Treasury minister Angela Eagle, Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell and House of Commons Leader Harriet Harman joined in a chorus of views at last week’s Fabian Society new year conference that politics have entered a new phase after the Thatcherite consensus established in the 1980s.
The remarks suggest that the economic crisis means Labour is more confident about discussing reform of the financial system without being perceived as dangerously left-wing.
Ms Eagle said: “After decades out of power, perhaps new Labour was trying to accommodate to the consensus that was forged by our failure [in 1979 and successive elections]. We’re now in a third era since the Second World War, to make structures that are far more progressive.”
She added that there was a “battle” to be had “in the first 20 years of this century” to change how markets work. “We’re in a new place and that is that we need to get fairness sorted out between nations as well as within them.”
James Purnell added: “For the last 30 or so years, politics in Britain has been determined by the image of the winter of discontent. The idea of achieving a fairer society through state action was damaged.
“I don’t think we will rebalance to the other side, where markets are entirely dismissed, but I think we can have a more balanced politics as a result.”
Ms Harman delivered one of the Government’s most outspoken attacks on executive bonuses to date. “As we seek to build a fairer society in the future, there must be no return to the awful spectacle of directors of companies awarding themselves bonuses of hundreds of millions. No one seeks to defend that now”, she said.
Labour faced a new slide against the Tories in opinion polls this week, falling 13 percentage points behind. The Government is also under pressure from collapsing shares in banks it is trying to bail out, such as Royal Bank of Scotland whose stock fell by more than 70 per cent on Monday.
At a press conference this week, Mr Brown sought to distance himself from the failures in the markets by accusing RBS of “irresponsible losses”.
He insisted the £200 billion insurance scheme was “not help for banks but help for businesses and families by providing the capital to ensure credit for businesses and families and to raise demand in the economy.”
