Labour and cuts

It is so easy for the Labour Party at present. Difficult decisions made by the Coalition Government - on welfare, higher education, local government and policing - can be opposed as 'wicked cuts' detrimental to public services. Much simpler to express outrage against Coalition plans to cut the deficit. Much harder for the Government to explain why paying £120 million a day in debt interest alone is unsustainable in the long term. Not least because all this debt repayment could otherwise be spent on public services.

Whereas cuts are immediate and real, dealing with debt - even if the economy is almost bankrupt - is much more abstract.

Yet, Labour's easy short term political gain might not be so clever in the long term. If after months and years of undergoing the political pain of cuts, the economy improves, with the debt and deficit reduced, the Labour Party could significantly suffer in the polls. By 2014, if the Coalition can announce lower taxes as well as more money for reformed public services, they will reap the electoral dividend.

To be fair, not all senior Labour politicians are so short-sighted. Douglas Alexander MP (one of Gordon Brown's top Lieutenants), has argued that Labour lost the election because they simply denied that cuts were necessary. Through their language and rhetoric, they came over to the public as 'deficit-deniers' rather than economic realists. In a recent speech he stated:

"As I argued within government at the time and as I still believe today, the repeated refusal by some to use the word "cuts" for many months after the global financial crisis and the repetition of phrases like 'Mr 10%' gravely damaged voters' confidence that we got it,".

Mr Alexander's honesty is refreshing. He needs to pass his message on to his colleagues on the Labour benches, if his party is to regain economic credibility.

P.S. You can read more HERE: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/nov/30/labour-gordon-brown-cuts-douglas-alexander?
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