Labour’s “one nation” policies

In short

• To foster key institutions of British social life
• to encourage more people to have a say, so as to make politics more relevant 
• to ensure that the benefits of economic prosperity are more evenly spread. 

1. “An economy that works for working people”

Currently, we have youth unemployment of around 1m, falling incomes, and much higher than planned public borrowing because Tory policy on public debt was misconceived.

Specific Labour economic policies for “jobs and growth”:

• No millionaires' tax cut
• No real cut in tax credit
• Restrain energy and train fare increases
• Bring in a mansion tax, plus a 10p tax for those on low and middle incomes
• Increase government spending on infrastructure, housing and lending to small business to grow (rather than cut) our way out of public debt burden
• Tax on bankers’ bonuses to help tackle youth unemployment.

2. Social responsibility

General Labour social policy: 

• All companies should pay the right British taxes on the money they make here. 
• All who can work, must. 
• Support for key social institutions, such as the NHS, police, state education.

In contrast: Tories are cutting 4,000 nurses, 15,000 police.

Particular Labour policies:

• compulsory jobs guarantee
• enforce the minimum wage
• tackle anti-social behaviour
• address concerns on immigration: teach English, full “transitional controls” for future EU joiners, tackle “foreign only” employment agencies.

3. “Give people more say on the decisions that affect their lives”

Many people are turned off politics, think that it makes no difference and that all politicians are the same.

General Labour policies: 

• Work to make politics more inclusive, collective
• decentralise institutional power
• tackle vested interests.

Particular Labour policies:

• devolve power to councils (eg on establishment of pay-day lenders and on commitment to pay council staff a living wage)
• devolve power within the Labour Party: policy participation: yourbritain.co.uk
• “take on” vested interests in energy, trains, banks, non-tax paying firms.

Questions and criticisms:

•       What overall tax effect?
•       Are some measures more symbolic than substantive?
•       It says nothing about encouraging economic democracy, which would really give people a say over the decisions that affect their lives.
•       “Compulsory” doesn’t sound attractive to me, but might be electorally appealing; same with the stuff on immigration: but how to tackle concerns about the impact of immigration on living standards, and on cultural change, without being reactionary?
•       Also: people are conceived of as passive in official Labour literature: “given” influence rather than taking on things themselves.
•       Overall: fair enough as far it goes, but a bit underwhelming as a response to the greatest crisis in global capitalism for since the 1930s. A bit lacking in inspiring vision of how we could live better.