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| Jeremy Corbyn : Labour cannot be a 'partner in austerity.' |
WHILE JACINDA ARDERN promised 'transformation' but has delivered the country more of the same, the British Labour Party has launched a election manifesto that is genuinely transformative.
It not only represents a fundamental rejection of neoliberalism but charts an alternative path forward. Unlike Ardern's glib and empty election catchphrase about 'doing it', this is a manifesto
that really is committed to the many and not the few.
In 2017 'unelectable' Labour spring boarded on a manifesto that almost propelled it into 10 Downing Street. The 2019 manifesto builds on that success and it is also well to the left of the 2017 manifesto. It certainly ignores the call from the political establishment for Labour to adopt a more 'pragmatic' and 'realistic' approach. Corbynism represents a fundamental rejection
of centrist politics and a determination by Jeremy Corbyn to ensure that any government he leads will not, by default, become what he has described as a 'partner in austerity'.
There's a lot to be excited about in this well thought-out manifesto. It doesn't throw out a few election lollies (tax cuts anyone?) to the masses but
proposes building a fundamentally different Britain, freed of the neoliberal straitjacket it has been trapped in for the past three decades. While Jacinda Ardern's government may only be prepared to loosen the straps a
bit, a UK Labour Government would throw out the straitjacket altogether. Corbyn has reminded the left that it cannot just be 'the human face of a self-interested establishment.'
Jeremy Corbyn and Labour recognise that the ' old economic consensus based on supposed free markets and privatisation has failed and broken down' and will
do something about it. To that end there will be fundamental reforms to health and welfare. Labour says it will ' end and reverse privatisation in the National Health Service'. It also plans to implement a sweeping housing
program that will see a million new states houses built in the next decade.
There's a lot to be excited about in Labour manifesto and the emphasis it places on environmental issues underlines the concern Labour has about climate
change. It is the most radical challenge to climate change ever proposed by a major British political party. Under the terms of its Green New Deal, it won't be relying on market mechanisms to carry the country forward to
decarbonisation. It would establish a 250 billion pound Green Transformation Fund to help Britain target carbon neutrality in 2030 by investing in clean energy. It would also nationalise regional energy networks and the
'big six' energy companies to create a National Energy Agency that would be responsible for decarbonisng the energy industry.
While Jacinda Ardern's government is only prepared to tinker with an economy that actually needs a complete overhaul, UK Labour will also put railways,
broadband infrastructure, postal services, and water into public ownership. But Labour have also emphasised that nationalisation will not mean the imposition of the old top-down social democratic bureaucracy but will also
involve the transference of power to local communities.
in the foreword to the manifesto Corbyn talks of Labour challenging a political and economic status quo 'holding people back.'
'The big polluters, financial speculators and corporate tax-dodgers have had a free ride for too long. They do not want real change in
this country.Why would they? The system is working just fine for them. It’s rigged in their favour. But it’s not working for you.'
Wouldn't it be nice to have a New Zealand Labour leader not only expressing similar sentiments but also prepared to act on them? Perhaps she's just having
too much fun playing carpool karaoke with American talk show host, Stephen Colbert...
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