On the Boles proposals

On the Boles proposals

There is an essay by Nick Boles, published on demos website that argues to reframe Starmer’s EU reset by offering to extend Britain’s nuclear umbrella in exchange for a single market in goods. It is claimed this is circulating within government.

It has caused much excitement by the rejoin opposing press and its followers in the Labour Party. It has also been noted by some of the rejoin commentators as an item of hope.

It’s nonsense.

This proposal fails to recognise that, Starmer’s reset has failed, mostly through lack of ambition on the British side. This proposal is similar to the reset agreement made in May 25 which set an agenda, including an enhanced defence agreement. Not one single item of the reset has been finalised.

 The one disappointment I have in Starmer being replaced is that the learning process on the subject of EU relations within the government has been set back. I believe the Starmer speech on 1st May, together with the House of Commons Select Committee report and the Fabian Society’s “Pressing Reset” shows that large elements of labour we’re ready to learn a new lesson.

What needs to be understood is that the European Union will not make an agreement that leaves a third country in a better position than either current members or aspirant members and it considers the single market as indivisible.

The proposal has the benefit to Labour’s Atlanticists that it embeds Britains commitment to the US designed strategic nuclear deterrent, and its proposed extension, the air based so called tactical nuclear weapons in exchange for minimal concessions from the EU. I say, minimal, splitting the single market which is what is proposed is not minimal,  but if the UK is making the offer, it should be able to get more than a single market for goods, even if only seen from the nation of shopkeeper’s accountant’s lense.

The country needs a better deal on all three dimensions of the issue, defence, trade and international solidarity.

Labour’s NPF also shows a continuation of this lack of ambition, and a failure to learn from the failed two years of the Reset.

Rejoining the EU could be the easiest deal in the world if we just forget what we once had and embrace the economic benefits, the opportunity for deeper social relationships between our peoples, and the continued development of a force for peace, democracy and human rights.

This needs ambition and I am very unclear that Burnham’s government is ready for this.

Those of us that want to rejoin need to push harder and articulate achievable goals. The UK should join the single market now, and Labour should put that a Labour Government will seek to rejoin the EU in its next manifesto.

The Russian Ukraine border Sergey Bystro, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons …

A local income tax

A local income tax

So it seems that Burnham is going ahead with his plans to introduce a local income tax. This is a major step forward beyond the Brown Commission’s recommendations. Without detail this may be hard to comment on, but when I read the Brown Commission report I noted that the proposals do not involve any transfers from poor to richer places. Those places with a low tax base, which often require enhanced services will not find their problem solved by these proposals.

I also note that Labour is still stuck with its fixation on Commissars otherwise known that directly elected mayors. I am of the view that these are not democratic improvements, that committees are more democratic than commissars and wonder whether or when labour will drop this. My more detached mind knows this is unlikely.

For the big cities, a hotel tax might be simpler and great greater room for movement.

 …

Simplicity is power

Simplicity is power

The events that made me write Rejoin the need for speed reminded me of Robocop II, where Robocop’s three directives were augmented to over 300. In that case, they were deliberately designed to reduce Robocop’s effectiveness.

In the world of resolutionary politics, too often, the special interest demands of part of a majority voting bloc are accepted weakening the powerful simplicity of the motion’s original design.

Work out what you want and keep it simple. (It also makes it harder for opponents to nit pick). …

Rejoin and the need for speed

Rejoin and the need for speed

In an article, on Best for Britain’s sub stack, Joshua Edwicker reviews the personnel responsible for EU relations in Burnham’s new cabinet. On first glance it would appear that this team is more likely to support closer relationships with the EU without putting roadblocks in the way and will at least have more ambition, although he doesn’t talk about Shabana Mahmood staying at the Home Office.

My fear is that relationships with the EU we’ll take a back seat in the priorities of the Burnham administration. New policy needs to start from the fact that the “Reset” has failed, yet most of the PLP don’t realise it. Not a single initiative announced in May 25 has been closed. It would be too easy for this team to continue to try for incremental changes to the trading rules with the EU.

The EU will survive without the UK and it is changing up, most significantly for the UK via its  Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA).

People, mainly convinced Brexiters, have been saying the EU has changed too much, it hasn’t yet, but it will, The IAA  is likely to increase the UK’s barriers to entry EU markets, harm the UK economy, and thus the living standards of the UK people.

We must put more on the table and act with speed. I believe that membership of the EEA, is a minimum first step and that the European Movement’s 5 asks are minimal demands. …

A new 5 point plan on Europe

A new 5 point plan on Europe

The European Movement write to Andy Burnham on his arrival at Downing St.. They call for the Government and Labour Party to,

  • Drop the red lines on Europe,
  • By the end of 2026, publish a strategy for cementing the UK’s place in Europe
  • Make the UK Europe’s closest security partner
  • Launch a national conversation on the UK’s European future
  • Put a route to EU membership in Labour’s next manifesto

They now have a petition to support their demands, I have signed it, it would be great if you did too.

Image Credit: By me! CC 2022 BY-SA 2.0 or via flickr. …

A time for reflection by London Labour, or not.

A time for reflection by London Labour, or not.

London Labour held its annual conference on 18th and 19th of July, a month and half after disastrous local election results, and in the shadow of Keir Starmer’s resignation as leader of the Labour Party.  These two events shaped the debates that took place and in the tradition of the current leadership faction, the vast amount of time was given over to speakers from the platform, either as panel speakers, or just guest speeches.

There were two MP guest speakers, David Lammy and Wes Streeting who were occasionally joined on the platform by the outgoing regional director, Aline Delawa and regional chair Maggi Ferncombe of Unison.

They all repeated what’s becoming a line about what a good leader and Prime Minister Keir Starmer was, how he’d delivered a working majority after Labour’s greatest post-war election loss, and a successful government, even though and unmentioned, the number of votes won was amongst the lowest. This story is not true, and repeating this nonsense will make it harder to recover our vote share; it leaves the question, that if he was so good, “why did he have to resign?”, unanswered.

It’s a retread of Mandelson’s strategy, “they have nowhere else to go”, which has been proven to be false, most dramatically in 2019, and I am reminded, that in Scotland, there is now a generation that has never voted Labour and that in 2024, the hero voter strategy failed.

There is reticence to recognise that Palestine cut through and that the mantle of community progressive leadership has, in London at least, moved to the Greens. Labour were also hampered by being unable and/or unwilling to say it was a good government. For me and my Labour comrade councillors, it is galling to live in a borough which wins awards for its parks and have introduced landlord registration and yet lose to the Greens particularly where renters have switched from Labour to the Greens to punish a Labour Government that strengthened renter’s rights by making new laws.

Something I have noticed, and it came up at the Conference, is an anti-Green sectarianism. While it should be clear that there are political disagreements between the two parties, the crude stupidity of Labour’s anti-Green position, focusing on NATO and a controversial position on drugs makes it hard to genuinely speak to Labour’s defecting voters, most of whom are good people who feel let down by the first Labour Government of their generation. We may come to regret this.

Another part of the complacency is the idea that they’ll come back, we just have to wait our turn. During a Q&A session, one of the contributors pointed out that, the General Election strategy, where Labour instructed campaigners to campaign outside London meant that voters might and did feel ignored as the level of contact and conversation was diminished.

We need to ask just how good the London Labour regional offices is or has been. It’s job has been to manage the party; winning elections has come a distant second.  In London over the last two local election cycles, London Labour have lost six councils and in three of them, the councils are now led by Labour defectors who have been the victims of underhand administrative action by the regional office.

Len Duvall, the leader of the Labour Group on the GLA spoke of the next London wide elections, on the challenges facing the Mayor and highlighting his successes, the Fare Freeze, School Meals, Policing, where knife crime is down, and clean air, through electrification and investing in trees and parks. He also highlighted Kahn’s brave stand against hate.  Duvall warned that Labour needed to get its candidates in place as soon as possible. London Region’s record in just forgetting to hold trigger ballots is well remembered, at least by me.

In the REC elections, Labour to Win won all the seats, with one exception and that was because they failed to run a full slate. The office had also excluded the delegation from Islington South CLP; its presence might have made a difference in that division which has often been a stronghold of their opponents.  The three Newham Parties remain suspended.

There was 1½ hours for motions, which were on the whole pretty anodyne. They included motions from the Unions on Pay, London Weighting, Hours, the Health Service, and gambling. To this we add Unite’s motion calling for a debate and greater regulation of automated vehicles with a moratorium until regulation is in place.  The Co-Op party tabled two motions.  The CLP motion on re-nationalising Thames water was ruled out of order, and a CLP motion calling for better rail routes in South London was defeated when the ASLEF delegate stated that it would require more track or sacrificing other routes. Lewisham North’s motions on Horizon Europe and Rail Services were not submitted on time.  Does this accurately show the interest that CLPs have in policy?

I attended as a delegate from my Union, and this is written in a personal capacity. It was written in mid-August, from contemporaneous notes and back dated to the Monday following the Conference. The featured image is from unsplash.  …

On the Euro

On the Euro

Niall Ó Conghaille and Mike Galsworthy discuss the Euro and its role in the rejoin process. This is what I think.

While I agree, that for the UK to rejoin the European Union it is necessary for them to agree, in good faith, to join the euro. …

Your arguments in favour of the EU insisting that the UK agree to join the Euro do not address the embedded macroeconomic theory within the stability and growth pact.

The ECB has a mandate to pursue price stability before growth or employment. That is a choice, and one that should be taken democratically, not embedded in an almost impossible to change treaty.

The financial tests of the Euro are deflationary and currently many of the large countries inc. Euro members fail to meet the criteria because they, i..e the criteria are bonkers or to use a more professional term, the democratically elected governments, with time-limited terms have decided that it is not in the interests of, nor supported by their voters.

It would be useful if advocates of the Euro spoke of these disadvantages; you ask us to support the Euro, in fact suggest that negotiations will fail unless we agree to join, but austerity economics is high price to pay. It would help if those who agree said so and held out a prospect for change.  …

Working rights

Working rights

RTE report that the EU Commission, has issued a warning to Ireland, and seven other countries, for failing to fully adopt an EU directive on transparent and predictable working conditions.

The Commission statement states they have

“…  adopted two new reports on the Employers Sanctions Directive and the Seasonal Workers Directive , assessing efforts to ensure fair working conditions for third-country nationals, prevent migrant exploitation and tackle illegal employment. 

RTE continues,

“The European Commission said it has decided to open infringement procedures by sending a letter of formal notice to Ireland, Czechia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Portugal and Finland.

I wonder if the Commission has considered writing to HMG to see of the UK is infringing on the “level playing field” clauses of the TCA. The UK’s employee protection rights remain amongst the weakest in the OECD. I expect the Commission is currently too busy to pursue the UK on this issue. …