Editorial: Welcome back, Labour politics
It was as though politics – and Labour politics at that – had made a sudden comeback. The main thrust of Gordon Brown’s statement on the Government’s policy relaunch was a sound recognition of the values, principles and aspirations of the party on whose shoulders he stands.
Accompanied by the effective ditching [...]

by Tribune Web Editor
Friday, July 3rd, 2009

Editorial: Welcome back, Labour politics

It was as though politics – and Labour politics at that – had made a sudden comeback. The main thrust of Gordon Brown’s statement on the Government’s policy relaunch was a sound recognition of the values, principles and aspirations of the party on whose shoulders he stands.

Accompanied by the effective ditching of compulsory national identity cards, questions over the future of Trident, the ditching of centralised control of schools, the apparent keenness to move swiftly to nationalise National Express’ East Coast franchise, the announcement of a review of the demerits of the Private Finance Initiative in the health service all add up to a new deportment across government.

The fact that some of the moves have been determined by events – public spending shortages in the case of Trident, a flawed business model with rail – should not detract from the significance of the change. In a sense it is a fulfilment of Mr Brown’s affirmation that the Labour Party is “best when we are boldest…best when we are Labour”.

The replacement of producer targets with consumer “entitlements” might at first glance appear to be yet another of those tricky managerial spins of which we have seen too much in recent years and which have done more harm than good to patients and users of public services. If prosecuted as outlined, however, it marks a symbolic shift with the “new” Labour mantra of targets, which disengaged patients, pupils and parents from the service. Entitlements return the public service ethic to a place that is much closer to Labour’s vision, placing power in the hands of users and frontline managers in a way that should drive improvements across the health and education services.

The trebling of funding for affordable housing is to be applauded at long last after so many years of foot-dragging opposition from successive ministers shackled to the Treasury’s reticence. The sop to newly-converted British National Party voters in the announcement that local authorities will be given the power to give “local people” priority on housing lists adds dangerous credence to the propaganda that white people face systemic discrimination is the housing queue while doing nothing to tackle the underlying problem.

It would be encouraging to think that the commendable core proposals of this unveiling of the next Queen’s Speech were a  reflection, perhaps even a liberation, of Mr Brown’s innate connection with the Labour Party. It may be. If it is liberation, it is conversion, too, –  from the market-dominated mechanisms with which both the public services and Government thinking have been hamstrung for too many years of this Labour administration.

With the Tories maintaining a convincing  poll lead and the economy facing a potentially catastrophic “double dip” turndown, there is a certain amount of political expediency in the package, brought on by the mood of Labour MP and, to their credit, the determination of a few wise advisors to persuade the Prime Minister of the right course to steer. At the very least, it might prove that he has found a way to listen. So, we have fresh set of aspirations, many of which by necessity would uproot much of what has been laid down in the past decade. It will take a great determination to deliver them within a timescale that is simply not available to Mr Brown and his Government.

It was as though politics – and Labour politics at that – had made a sudden comeback. The main thrust of Gordon Brown’s statement on the Government’s policy relaunch was a sound recognition of the values, principles and aspirations of the party on whose shoulders he stands.
Accompanied by the effective ditching of compulsory national identity cards, questions over the future of Trident, the ditching of centralised control of schools, the apparent keenness to move swiftly to nationalise National Express’ East Coast franchise, the announcement of a review of the demerits of the Private Finance Initiative in the health service all add up to a new deportment across government.
The fact that some of the moves have been determined by events – public spending shortages in the case of Trident, a flawed business model with rail – should not detract from the significance of the change. In a sense it is a fulfilment of Mr Brown’s affirmation that the Labour Party is “best when we are boldest…best when we are Labour”.
The replacement of producer targets with consumer “entitlements” might at first glance appear to be yet another of those tricky managerial spins of which we have seen too much in recent years and which have done more harm than good to patients and users of public services. If prosecuted as outlined, however, it marks a symbolic shift with the “new” Labour mantra of targets, which disengaged patients, pupils and parents from the service. Entitlements return the public service ethic to a place that is much closer to Labour’s vision, placing power in the hands of users and frontline managers in a way that should drive improvements across the health and education services.
The trebling of funding for affordable housing is to be applauded at long last after so many years of foot-dragging opposition from successive ministers shackled to the Treasury’s reticence. The sop to newly-converted British National Party voters in the announcement that local authorities will be given the power to give “local people” priority on housing lists adds dangerous credence to the propaganda that white people face systemic discrimination is the housing queue while doing nothing to tackle the underlying problem.
It would be encouraging to think that the commendable core proposals of this unveiling of the next Queen’s Speech were a  reflection, perhaps even a liberation, of Mr Brown’s innate connection with the Labour Party. It may be. If it is liberation, it is conversion, too, –  from the market-dominated mechanisms with which both the public services and Government thinking have been hamstrung for too many years of this Labour administration.
With the Tories maintaining a convincing  poll lead and the economy facing a potentially catastrophic “double dip” turndown, there is a certain amount of political expediency in the package, brought on by the mood of Labour MP and, to their credit, the determination of a few wise advisors to persuade the Prime Minister of the right course to steer. At the very least, it might prove that he has found a way to listen. So, we have fresh set of aspirations, many of which by necessity would uproot much of what has been laid down in the past decade. It will take a great determination to deliver them within a timescale that is simply not available to Mr Brown and his Government. lIt was as though politics – and Labour politics at that – had made a sudden comeback. The main thrust of Gordon Brown’s statement on the Government’s policy relaunch was a sound recognition of the values, principles and aspirations of the party on whose shoulders he stands.
Accompanied by the effective ditching of compulsory national identity cards, questions over the future of Trident, the ditching of centralised control of schools, the apparent keenness to move swiftly to nationalise National Express’ East Coast franchise, the announcement of a review of the demerits of the Private Finance Initiative in the health service all add up to a new deportment across government.
The fact that some of the moves have been determined by events – public spending shortages in the case of Trident, a flawed business model with rail – should not detract from the significance of the change. In a sense it is a fulfilment of Mr Brown’s affirmation that the Labour Party is “best when we are boldest…best when we are Labour”.
The replacement of producer targets with consumer “entitlements” might at first glance appear to be yet another of those tricky managerial spins of which we have seen too much in recent years and which have done more harm than good to patients and users of public services. If prosecuted as outlined, however, it marks a symbolic shift with the “new” Labour mantra of targets, which disengaged patients, pupils and parents from the service. Entitlements return the public service ethic to a place that is much closer to Labour’s vision, placing power in the hands of users and frontline managers in a way that should drive improvements across the health and education services.
The trebling of funding for affordable housing is to be applauded at long last after so many years of foot-dragging opposition from successive ministers shackled to the Treasury’s reticence. The sop to newly-converted British National Party voters in the announcement that local authorities will be given the power to give “local people” priority on housing lists adds dangerous credence to the propaganda that white people face systemic discrimination is the housing queue while doing nothing to tackle the underlying problem.
It would be encouraging to think that the commendable core proposals of this unveiling of the next Queen’s Speech were a  reflection, perhaps even a liberation, of Mr Brown’s innate connection with the Labour Party. It may be. If it is liberation, it is conversion, too, –  from the market-dominated mechanisms with which both the public services and Government thinking have been hamstrung for too many years of this Labour administration.
With the Tories maintaining a convincing  poll lead and the economy facing a potentially catastrophic “double dip” turndown, there is a certain amount of political expediency in the package, brought on by the mood of Labour MP and, to their credit, the determination of a few wise advisors to persuade the Prime Minister of the right course to steer. At the very least, it might prove that he has found a way to listen. So, we have fresh set of aspirations, many of which by necessity would uproot much of what has been laid down in the past decade. It will take a great determination to deliver them within a timescale that is simply not available to Mr Brown and his Government. l
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