THE TORIES may hold the the beneiii, not workers, Pei election in the spring of sioners, parcais, stachis or the unemployed. Less income 1997, but October's party tax and more profits means conferences showed the worse education, lower pay. general outlines of the camworse welfare, health and sopaigns to come.
On the rieht. a Conserva- rect taxes, like VAT. tive goverment which has brought real success to Brit- Security ain's exploitative ruling class To win back the votes of out e o o cora or working people, the ConserEuropean integration - is unable to show a way forward. vatives are trying to launch a big propaganda war. They In the centre, a Labour Party suffering from Blair's blitzkrieg. The clique around party is the party of internal and external security: against to the right at a pace which criminals and asylum seckers at home, and against "Euroeven scares many of the Labour MPs who back Blair. crats and potential invaders On the left, there's dispa- abroad. It is a natural extension of the law and order policies of Michael Howard. fend the real interests of the workers and the oppressed. On compensation rules, information for prisoners, pafacing the Conservatives is role for IRA prisoners, police bow to hold on to power. authorities and more Howard They've done their bit by nas oceh overtunico by Jual® their class. The British econ- cial review.
The damaging writ served onys now rowink oy dirce per cent a year, and the gov- on Howard by sacked Prison Service chief Derek Lewis is erment will try hard to reLa product of the government's duce income tax even further.
high-handed attempt to whip Last week, the FTSE index.
up fear-driven appeals for which measures the value of shares, reached an all-time stronger state powers in the aftermath of the Parkhurst high.
Most working people don't jailbreak.
At the Conservative party see any improvement. It's ruling class investors who feel conference, Michael Howard for burglars and sexual offenders, Peter Lilley brought in £200 million cuts in welfare Defence Secretary Michael Portillo - flercely opposing delence spending culs - invented, and then denounced, a posals: common military uniforms; a 40-hour week for the armed forces (quite a good idea); a common military polscy.
This may be very good for the Tory party conference, but people. In fact, ir no longer convinces the ruling class either.
Economy
For the bulk of the ruling class, it no longer matters win the general election. Chancellor Clarke plans a chree billion pound cut in income tax — but Labour could casily cut the i with its windfall levy on the profits of privatised utilities.
Neither party will return public spending on capital and infrastructure even to the modest levels of Thatcher.
Labour's clear ad vantage is Europe integration. When Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind announced the government's goal of a free trade zone linking the EU with Canada and the USA, he reflected the Eurosceptic opposents of European integration.
No-one, except perhaps Mr Rifkind, is convinced by that. As the Los Angeles Times noted last week, the US President's trade representative Micky Kantor now argues that the US needs to base itself on the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) bloc "You know where our real strategic concerns are? They're in Asia - China. Japan. Korea". Kantor went on. worse, is our destiny."
Europe
Britain's ruling class has no practical alternative to European integration. They must force massive cuts in sochi sproding and state borrowing quickly enough to meet the criteria for full economic and monetary union or be caught out in the coming world trade war. Labour is the party that will do that, the Tories are the party that will try to do it, if the right wing of the Tory party can be outflanked.
Ironically, the Tory 'strong state' offensive - which is so essential to their electoral fortunes - could stop Britain from entering the centre of Michael Howard Europe: the start-up costs of