Let Them Eat Cuts!

In the news this week, a Tory MP (isn’t it always) has called for cuts in public sector waste. Edward Leigh MP, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee has called for ‘staggering’ waste to be slashed across the public sector.

“There is not a shadow of doubt that you can deliver the reduction in the [public finances’] deficit that we require by imposing massive efficiency savings and job cuts on the bureaucracy,” said Leigh as he prepares to step down after nine years in the post.
“It won’t be easy. The next government will have to be ruthless — whole programmes will have to be cut.”

He proceeds to outline quite exorbitant (if true) wastage perpetrated by the MoD and the BBC. These are the kind of cuts that few people could disagree with; even I’d be willing to see eye-to-eye with him on slashing the amount of consultants within the NHS (though I think we’d propose it for quite different reasons).

But what about Edward Leigh himself? Surely a man who takes the chair on the PAC would be the pinnacle of thrift and restraint?

“Together, Brigg and Goole MP Ian Cawsey, Scunthorpe MP Elliot Morley, Cleethorpes MP Shona McIsaac and Gainsborough MP Edward Leigh claimed more than £600,000 between April 2007 and March 2008.”

“The second highest expenses claim was submitted by Gainsborough MP Edward Leigh, who put in returns totalling £154,113 last year.”

Oh.

Not only this, but Leigh voted ‘very strongly’ in favour of replacing that wholly-useless ‘deterrent’ we call Trident. There’s Tory efficiency for you! (Info courtesy of TheyWorkForYou.com – Mr. Leigh’s record is very interesting indeed).

Leigh goes on to say that there is a precedent for public sector workers to take a pay cut, as many in the private sector would do so. He ridicules the idea that a town clerk from his county council could be paid £150,00 a year for their work. Yet without a hint of irony, he goes on to mention Amyas Morse, (Comptroller and Auditor General of the National Audit Office), who received a ‘seven-figure’ salary from Price Waterhouse Coopers, the auditing firm, yet is paid 80% less in his new public sector role. Whether it is a conflict of interest for a former businessman of an auditing agency to take a seat in the NAO is up for debate, yet I would not champion Morse’s commitment to cut his own pay as encouraging. Even if the cut is as large as Leigh states, it’s still a reduction from the millions to the hundred-thousands. In the grand scheme of things, Morse will not be forced do without the essentials or luxuries, unlike the majority of working people who are told to take pay cuts and wage freezes.

Here we come to the crux of the matter. I don’t want this post to be merely an attack on either Leigh or Morse. They’re symptoms of a much large problem, the problem of accountability. All the time we are told that there must be savage cuts in the public sector. By whom? By people who will not be affected by it, by people who have a disproportionate amount of say in what gets cut. Stuff that! If cuts are on the agenda, let the majority of people decide on what needs cutting. There’s a hell of a lot to choose from: public subsidies to private companies (in particular the train operators), PFI, Trident, public sector pay at the top end of the scale, the list goes on. Let’s make things a bit more... ‘level’, shall we?

The 'Labour' Party

Gordon Brown and the Transport Secretary Lord Adonis have come out today in condemnation of the proposed BA strike by Unite union members. The action would take place for 3 days from March 20^th and for 4 days from March 27^th, with BA announcing that they would run 70% of flights if necessary. The Tories have come out and condemned the action (surprise), with Eric Pickles foaming at the mouth and risking a coronary with this remark:

How can you talk about protecting jobs and beating the recession when you are so reliant on this increasingly militant union that is intent on bringing a British company to its knees?

Astute observers will remember Pickles from his stellar defense of expenses in Question Time.

An injunction has already been slapped on the union back in the dying days of ‘09, on highly spurious grounds. Brown has stated that should the strike go forward it would be ‘unjustified and deplorable.’ I am not so quick to condemn the actions of the strikers. All they are doing is attempting to secure their livelihoods with the only means that are open to them. Brown and the Labour Government do not have the best record when it comes to protecting the working class. They are not fighting in labour’s corner, and never have done. Let’s take a look at just a handful of industrial situations that Labour have come running to the forefront over.

Lindsy 2009

In January, 800 walked out of the refinery due to IREM introducing Italian and Portuguese workers in order to undermine a national agreement on pay and conditions. This led to further wildcat strikes in other parts of the country, such as the Grangemouth Refinery in Scotland. The dispute continued into June, when 700 construction staff were axed. 1,200 walked out spontaneously in defence of pay and conditions and eventually, 3,000 workers across the country went on strike in an impressive show of solidarity.

Brown saw what needed to be done, and without further delay declared that...

‘(the wild cat strikes)...are not defensible.’

Ah.

Vestas 2009

Here was the only wind-turbine manufacturing plant within the British Isles, a prime example of the ‘green economy’ that Labour were keen to push. In July ‘09, Vestas announced it would close its British operations, resulting in over 500 job losses in the Isle of Wight. Taking inspiration from Lindsey, the workers occupied the plant and demanded nationalisation in order to secure employment for their community. The Labour solution was to try and get Siemens to buy it, even offering £1.1 million to sweeten the deal. Why is it that we are paying a private company when it would be far simpler to just nationalise the plant?

Cadbury 2010

Not so much a dispute as a demolition. The American food giant Kraft took over Cadbury plc in February 2010. Not only was this the loss of a national institution, the Unite union predicted that 30,000 jobs would be put at risk as a result of this takeover. Always living up to expectations, Kraft subsequently announced 400 redundancies at a Bristol plant, with cuts on the way. Not only did Labour and Brown do nothing to stop the massacre, they actively encouraged it. When the takeover was announced, it was discovered that the Royal Bank of Scotland, a part-nationalised bank actually funded the deal to the tune of £630 million. This is at best negligence and at worse a declaration of war on the working class.

Looking through the records, if I were the BA workers at this point, I’d take Brown’s brow-beating as an incentive to carry on further action; it is the only chance they’ve got. I realise that there are those in the Labour party at present who are genuinely committed to the working class and will fight every attack on its conditions. All I will say is this: leave. Get out of the Labour Party, you are wasted on it. Hurry it's death along so we can get a real alternative in power.

House of Lords to be Abolished?

Saw this in The Times today:

'PLANS to abolish the House of Lords and replace it with a wholly elected, 300-seat second chamber are set to be unveiled by the government before the general election.

Jack Straw, the justice secretary, is ready to unveil a draft bill on Lords reform in the next few weeks, a move designed to put the Tories on the back foot during the election campaign.

Although the plan is unlikely to become law before parliament is dissolved, Labour strategists hope it will open up a dividing line with the Conservatives, who will be reluctant to back any Labour reforms'

This is announced in the same week where the interminable expenses wrangling has reared its head in the Lords; the familiar tactic of citing parliamentary privilege to escape prosecution has come into play once again by the accused.

Of course, moves towards making the ludicrous and anachronistic entity that is the House of Lords more democratic should be welcomed, though this is presuming these measures will be followed through. In the run up to an election, all kinds of things are promised by the 3 major parties in order to both gain support and keep their opponents on the back foot. With many commentators predicting a hung parliament, it is unlikely that, should Labour get elected, they will not have a strong enough majority to pass this. When the Lib Dems are playing down talks of coalition, it remains to be seen what legs this piece of legislation has.

It's funny what comes back into fashion. In the early 1980s, abolishment of the House of Lords was one of the Labour Party's key manifesto pledges, and yet I do not see New Labour now being derided as 'far-left lunatics,' (although some of the sketchier blogs floating around will contend this) or this draft being termed 'the longest suicide note in history.' Perhaps the Labour Party is not as threatening to capital as once it was...

More to the point, the timing of this proposal is bizarre; why now? We have endured the worst economic crisis since the 1920s, unemployment is at 7%, and those in work have either had to take pay freezes or cuts. Furthermore, in order to cut the deficit, 'savage' cuts have been proposed in the public sector by all 3 parties at some stage in the election trail (though they have now since played down the gravity of the cuts). Employment, housing and welfare are of far more pressing concern than legislative reform at present: surely that should take precedent?

The proposals outline;

'The government’s reform blueprint would have all members directly elected, ending the tradition of party patronage. A proportional representation system would be used to select members, with voting taking place at the same time as general elections.

One-third of the new chamber would be elected on each occasion, with members serving three terms — 15 years — in a system similar to the one used to select members of the United States Senate. '

Hmm. Maybe it's just me being a bit of a stick in the mud, but it seems there's been a lot of
American import into the British political sphere lately. What with this televised, presidential-style debate with the 3 party leaders in the run up to the election, and now this reform based on the US legislature, it's worrying we seem to have run out of original ideas in UK politics.