Book Review: The Purple Book, and moving on from New Labour
Ahead of Labour Party conference, a new book has been published, which aims to set out the way forwards for Labour.
It proposes a range of new taxes on the rich to help fund a multi billion pound expansion of the welfare state. It calls for tough new regulations on landlords to protect renters.
And it calls for Labour to recognise the failure of the neoliberal ‘what can be measured can be managed’ approach to delivering public services, in favour of promoting the ethos of public service and allowing workers to have the time and ability to build relationships with the people who use their services.
The name of this socialist call to arms? The Purple Book.
continue reading… »
Bill Gates also backs Robinhood Tax
contribution by Owen Tudor
A report prepared for G20 country ministers and officials – a copy of which the TUC has seen – summarises the key findings of the report Bill Gates will make to the G20 leaders summit in Cannes at the beginning of November.
It says he will back a financial transactions tax (FTT), although acknowledging that the idea is controversial, and without going into detail about how such a tax would operate. The Gates report will say substantial resources could be raised with a fairly small tax rate, and that it could be implemented unilaterally or by small numbers of countries.
The report has been leaked ahead of Friday’s meeting of G20 Finance and Development Ministers in Washington DC.
This is a huge win for the Robin Hood Tax campaign around the world, and will put FTTs at the heart of the G20 debate over the next few weeks – alongside the EU’s consideration of the proposal.
And as Larry Elliott says in the Guardian, the document – which is quite complimentary about UK government overseas aid policy both in scale and direction – puts increased pressure on George Osborne to drop his opposition to an FTT.
The campaign for a Robin Hood Tax is moving up a gear: the TUC Manchester for the Alternative protest that greets the Conservative Party Conference just days before EU Finance Ministers meet to discuss detailed plans for a European FTT puts the tax at the head of its list of demands.
Is Britain ‘Great’ or ‘Broken’? PM is unsure
This week David Cameron unveiled the ‘Britain is Great’ campaign to encourage more investment into the UK.
It is accompanied by a half-a-million ad spend with posters including:
He told the press.
In 2012 there will be only one place to be…we are determined to make the most of this unprecedented opportunity to ensure we deliver a lasting economic legacy that will benefit the whole country.
This campaign is simple. There are so many great things about Britain and we want to send out the message loud and proud that this is a great place to do business, to invest, to study and to visit.
If you really want, you can even watch a video of Cameron explaining what’s so Great about Britain.
All this enthusiasm is brilliant and very interesting, especially since not long ago he spent all his time telling everyone Britain was ‘Broken’.
Hmmmm, brand confusion anyone?
(via Political Reboot)
John Major paid more debt interest than this govt does
In 1997 the UK was paying £27.5bn annually just to service John Major’s debt, which would be equivalent to around £41bn in 2011-12.
Thankfully, Brown did fix the roof when the sun was shining and John Major’s debt interest was not allowed to accrue.
Had he not, then one may have had to query whether the UK could have withstood the global financial crisis that struck in 2008.
continue reading… »
Solidarity demo for imprisoned activist Edd
Edd Bauer, the 22 year old who is being held indefinately before trial for the ‘crime’ of hanging a banner off a bridge at the Liberal Democrat conference, will have his second bail hearing on Monday.
Edd, who is Vice President Education at the Birmingham University Guild of Students was denied bail and sent to prison at a previous hearing because he is ‘part of a group‘ and because he was involved in the Fortnum & Mason’s occupation on the 26th of March. Denying an activist bail in this way is thought to be unprecedented.
There will be a solidarity demonstration supporting Edd and our right to protest on Monday in Birmingham. Details are at the Facebook event.
Edd, who is an occasional contributor to Bright Green, is a well respected student activist, known for his hard work, calm demeanour, and winning smile.
How could we ever be a nation of responsible drinkers?
contribution by Nancy Kelley
Yesterday I took part in a great New Statesman / Portman Group fringe event at the Liberal Democrat conference on drinking cultures. We were trying to answer the question “Will we ever be a nation of responsible drinkers?”
Most interesting to me was the tension between talking about drinking cultures, and then trying to answer the question “what should the Government/ the drinks industry do?”
continue reading… »
Exclusive: Regional Growth Fund still hasn’t invested any money
Some fifteen months after the Coalition announced the establishment Regional Growth fund, aimed at stimulating the economy in “areas and communities at risk of being particularly affected by public spending cuts”, not a single penny of the Fund has been released by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS), it emerged today.
The failure to release any funds was acknowledged by Philippa Lloyd, Director of Economic Development at BIS in a reply to a Freedom of Informatio request seeking copies of all bids approved for funding under the scheme to date.
In the letter, Ms Lloyd admitted:
The successful bids are currently undergoing due diligence (apart from one which has completed the due diligence and has been provided with a final offer letter) before a final offer of funds can be made.
The failure to spend any of the £1.4bn Growth Fund budget will be a source of embarassment to the Coalition as it discusses whether or not to invest £5bn in infrastructure works as a way to promote growth.
When the fund was first announced on 29 June 2010, Nick Clegg, Vince Cable and Communites Secretary Eric Pickles were all keen to be associated with the announcement, with Clegg saying: “this fund can make a real difference to companies during difficult times.
At the time, Eric Pickles stressed the urgency of getting the Fund under way, stating that he did not want to “strangle business with red tape” and that “Urgent action is needed to rebuild and rebalance local economies so that new businesses and economic opportunities spread across the country.”
Even the City loses faith in Osborne’s Plan A
City economists have come to much the same conclusion as the IMF about the UK’s growth prospects.
Every month, the Treasury publishes a round up of independent forecasts for the economy, many of which are banks and other City organisations.
In today’s comparison, the average for new forecasts (that is, those published in the past month) puts UK GDP growth at 1.1% in 2011. This is the same as the revised IMF forecast; the City average forecast for 2012 is 1.7%, slightly higher than the IMF’s 1.6%. None of the forecasters expect growth to be higher than 1.8% in 2011.
These forecasts have been repeatedly revised downwards throughout the year, and the average forecast for 2011 is now more than a third off the average forecast twelve months ago:
Indeed, if you look at the March 2010 figure, the average is close to having halved.
It isn’t just the average forecasts for GDP that have been shifting. This month’s average forecasts for inflation are a little better than last month’s, but the trend has been for these to deteriorate as well:
This pessimism about inflation is supported by Eurostat figures, out today, which show that the UK’s CPI inflation is very high by international standards.
In August, the average annual inflation rate in the EU was 2.9% – in the UK, it was 4.5%. The only EU member states with higher rates were Estonia and Latvia.
Stagnant growth and high inflation – it isn’t surprising that even City economists are rapidly downscaling their expectations of this government.
The Health secretary is using PFI as an excuse to sell hospitals
Conveniently in time for Labour’s conference, Lansley has come to the shocking conclusion that PFI costs at 22 hospitals may be unaffordable.
Presumably, Lansley is banking on us all having short memories, and hoping that we’ve forgotten the main reason these costs may be unaffordable.
I haven’t.
As I reported here, this is the main reason the PFI costs are unaffordable:
Why Greens need to embrace the idea of economic growth
contribution by Jonathan Kent
Greens don’t like growth. It’s the mantra. We like to talk about a ‘stable’ economy; one that neither grows nor shrinks.
The trouble with maintaining a zero growth economy is that you have to maintain zero population growth alongside it. Zero economic growth and a twenty percent population increase and you have the sort of contraction in living standards that we’re desperately trying to fight off at the moment.
I am not opposed to economic growth.
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