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Tag Archives: Ed Balls
A dismal growth plan sets today's agenda in the Budget
Today’s ‘Growth Plan’ will restrict leave for parents, more public services to be outsourced, R&D tax credits, and more enterprise zones, but it is difficult to assess whether the markets will accept this as a particularly credible growth plan.
The Sir John Vickers report on the future of the investment banks will be an useful first step in determining what to do with the regulation of the banks, which must be addressed. Ed Balls must outline the vital importance for the need for this, given that the Conservatives or the Labour Party have previously not done this. The scope for this is large, but might include comprehensive stress tests for new financial instruments.
“Judge me on the facts” is what George Osborne wants, and the facts are we have a rise in VAT, a fall in consumer confidence, massive cuts, rising unemployment, higher inflation and possibly higher interest rates.
Labour should not allow the public sector investment to be mantra for the cause of the recession. Public satisfaction in the NHS was highest ever recorded, we have lowest National debt before the world recession, and it is difficult to claim that the primary blame of the economic crisis was over-spending in the public sector.
Osborne will wish Balls to specify where he would cut, and indeed Ed can say that he would cut less, and specify precisely the areas to cut. There could be a bank bonus tax, which we could use to get the unemployed back to work, especially construction workers whose faltering output in Q4 was a contributing factor to our poor growth. Osborne can make a stop to duty rise, which Labour would have done. Furthermore, Osborne’s argument that he is unable to reverse the rise in VAT due to Europe needs scrutiny by fellow journals and expert advisors. However, the investment banks are very important for GDP in this country, and many industries are reliant on them.
Angela Eagle MP must be a future Shadow Chancellor
There is no doubt for me that Angela Eagle MP will be a future Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer at some time. Whilst the media is making much play of the fact that Alan Jonhson MP is boning up on his primer in macroeconomics, Angela Eagle MP, with her degree in PPE from Oxford, could be the perfect politician in future to take the economic arguments to the experts.
She also very much does human, and clearly knows how to relate to our potential voters.
It could be that Ed Balls MP brings too much baggage, as a ‘Brownite’ in terms of the implications of economics policy. For example, his opposition to foundation hospitals is an obstacle to the debate on ‘marketisation’ of the health service which is about to be discussed by the Conservatives. It would have been extremely difficult to assume the mantle of Shadow Chancellor under the circumstances, and I also feel that Alan Johnson MP is the right man for the job presently. These cuts are deadly serious!
Labour needs unity, competence and credibility
Labour’s major potentially fatal flaw is lack of unity. It is essential that whoever Labour elects out of the excellent contenders it stays totally loyal to our new leader.
It is now clear that the most fatal mistake for Gordon Brown was not calling an early election. Gordon Brown’s ‘need for change’, from Ed Balls’ description, was not sufficiently thought through for a full term of government, so therefore Ed Balls gives the clear impression that an early election was essential. All the opinion polling had provided for a peak three months’ following assumption of power, so it was indeed a ‘no brainer’. Hence, reports like this
22 September 2007
Labour is ready for a general election, whenever Gordon Brown chooses to call one, the party’s election co-ordinator Douglas Alexander has said.
His comments came as Mr Brown arrived at Bournemouth ahead of his first party conference as prime minister.It follows a further round of opinion polls suggesting the party is in an increasingly strong position.
Mr Alexander told The Guardian donations to the Labour party were up and it was ready to go to the country.
That week in Bournemouth, with a backdrop of Labour with an increasing leader, should have seen Gordon Brown go for it. Political commentators have consistently highlighted that two subsequent events demolished Labour’s confidence; George Osborne’s speech on inheritance tax at the Conservative conference, and Gordon Brown’s ill-timed visit to visit the troops abroad. There is no doubt that this ‘lack of election’ was disaster. The inheritance tax was definitely a boost for the Conservatives, and did not go away for the period leading up to May 2010.
Gordon Brown did not have an adequate answer for the question “why no early election?”, as Gordon entered a period of being unpopular. The fact that he did not wish to call an election implanted at that stage the idea that the Labour Party was not unified.
The party needs to prove it has competence and credibility (no more computer child benefit disks going missing, issues about party funding, missing the main signing ceremony for Lisbon). But competence matters – remember when “today was a bad day” for the Conservative government in which Norman Lamont was Chancellor, when Britain came crashing out of the ERM. The buck needs to stop with our new leader, whoever he or she is.
On Ed Balls.
How’s the coalition doing these days? Well, considering. Cameron seems confident, and ‘on top of his game’ at the moment. He has a clear idea of how he can lead the country as well as his Party, which is no mean feat. Meanwhile, Labour seems to go on with its neverending shambles which is the leadership election, with Ed Balls revealing today that he disagreed with Gordon Brown and how he could now work with the Liberal Democrats.”
Here is Ed’s latest account of where things went wrong with him at the helm: Indy article
Gordon Brown fudged Labour message, says Ed Balls
“I could have chosen to have broken away in an emphatic and decisive way from Gordon in the last few years, and I didn’t,” he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.”
Why not? Of course, the traditional arguments are ‘collective responsibility’ and ‘loyalty’, but this admission goes to the heart of how exactly decisions were made in Gordon Brown’s government. The impression that, “If Gordon didn’t like it, tough”, seems to be getting stronger and stronger everyday, with the publication of a new set of political memoirs (e.g. “The Third Man”, or “The Journey”).
“I disagreed strongly with Gordon on the 10p tax rate cut, I thought we should have gone for the election in 2007, I felt that he trimmed and fudged his message to try to keep the Daily Mail happy in a way which meant that people didn’t know where we stood. I said that to him many times.”
Well, there’s disagreement and there’s disagreement isn’t there? As a junior member of the Fabians, I believe strongly that Labour government under both Blair and Brown screwed up on poverty. Poverty and inequality aren’t even mentioned in Blair’s index. Whatever your views on capital gains tax and corporation tax, the issue about the 10p tax (and the top rate of tax) still raises more questions than answers.
So, whilst Kerry is right to emphasise our achievements, we still have a lot of soul-searching to do. For what it’s worth, I don’t feel Ed Balls MP is the right man at the right time. He wasn’t then, and he isn’t now.
Meanwhile, Guido Fawkes has revealed interesting information about Ed Ball’s leadership chances from his research.
39% of Guido’s Readers Want Ed Balls to Lead Labour Party
Here are Guido’s findings.
“Ed Balls liked to tell the hustings that he was the one the Tories feared most, hence the attacks on him from the right-wing media. Guido takes the opposite view, he is the one that opponents of the Labour Party most badly want to win the Labour leadership because he would be as disastrous as his mentor was for Labour. Today”
Exit poll on the Labour Leadership
Young Labour Party member, Liam Young (join him on Facebook!), has organized an exit poll on Survey Monkey.
I have now decided who to vote for
There is no doubt in my mind who I’m going to vote for for the next Labour leader, with a view to him becoming Prime Minister of the UK eventually. I have thought about the options extremely carefully after several weeks and I am now very happy with my decision, although it hasn’t be easy.
This may surprise many of you but I will be voting for Andy Burnham no. 1 and Ed Balls no.2
In reaching my discussion, I have completely ignored the following dimensions:
black vs white
male vs female
nu Labour vs Labour
Oxbridge vs not
Blairite vs Brownite
I found these dichotomies extremely unhelpful.
I have also stopped worrying about what the unions think or what Middle England think. I frankly don’t care who they think is the best person to win the election. I don’t want a person to win the election with the wrong policies with the excuse he can ‘work on them’ later.
I also decided to ditch the “What if?” scenarios, such as D Miliband becomes Prime Minister and he wishes to have Jon Cruddas. Such scenarios are unpredictable : take the case of Jon Cruddas. i would actually be extremely delighted if he became Chairman of my party.
The next five years will not so much be concerned with the effects of the cuts, in my opinion, as the destruction of the infrastructure, especially schools and health. However, Labour must acknowledge the attacks on the weakest in society, including the poorest and disabled, and the potential U-turns on education. I take it as given that the anti-Keynesian approach is wrong, and that tax increases for a country that is deleveraging is totally incorrect. I think we need a leader with a proven record in domestic policy issues such as health or education, but who does have a vision for aspirational socialism.
I particularly identify with Andy Burnham because of his recognition of the ageing population and the future problem of dementia, as well as his in depth understanding of the NHS. This is going to be absolutely crucial in the next five years as the Conservative Party denationalise it with introduction of a sufficient number of private elements to make it viable as a commercial competitive identity, not abuse any dominant position in competition law, and make it ideally fit for privatisation. Furthermore, I fully support Andy Burnham in his demand that online media should be regulated. As it happens I believe in free speech and freedom of expression, but I strongly disagree with defamation and incitement to hatred. I feel that the BBC has not demonstrated a sufficient level of public service in this regard, which calls the renewal of its Charter into genuine question. Finally, I support Andy Burnham in his quest to understand the relationship between mental illness and criminal justice system. I happen to know a lot about these two disciplines, and I have found Andy’s words on these topics articulate and sophisticated.
Ed Balls MP impresses me a lot too, as he has put up a passionate argument against Michael Gove’s incompetent handling of school closures, and the untried efficacy of free schools imported from Sweden. David Miliband MP has been deeply unimpressive in hustings I have attended or friends have attended, giving a pale, unimpressive and uninspiring account of issues. I don’t think Labour is as popular as the Tories anyway on foreign policy, and I feel Labour should not play to its weaknesses at this particular time, when a lot of foreign policy issues are coming home to roost, such as Meghari/Blair/BP, alleged torture, the Iraq War, which sadly did occur under David Miliband’s watch. Ed Miliband, while perfectly innocuous, does not have enough depth of understanding in health or education (or a major office of state) to go straight in there at the deep end.
Good luck to all of them however!
