Editorial 2
Oh, what a lovely war?
NEW Labour apparatchik Jo Moore may have been publicly pilloried for seeking to take advantage of the September 11 events, but New Labour Ministers have certainly been hiding behind the war as the wheels have come off a succession of their cherished policies.
The unresolved fiasco with Railtrack
The cash crisis of the partially privatised Air Traffic Control system (NATS)
The announcement of a U-turn over student grants
David Blunkett’s attempts to revamp Jack Straw’s disastrous system of vouchers for asylum seekers
Blunkett’s partial climb-down over the criminalisation of cannabis, signalling a retreat in the government’s war on drugs
An Audit Report showing that after four years of Labour government, queues for hospital A&E treatment are longer than they were under the Tories …
… all have come in quick succession in the weeks since the attack on the World Trade Centre.
Each of the policies being ditched by Labour was strongly opposed by trade unions, campaigns and pressure groups and even some Labour back-benchers – before being steamrollered through by Blair’s arrogant minions.
In each case the policies have proved unworkable for the reasons raised by the objectors.
But rather than listen, New Labour’s response to their own policy failures is to lurch from one disaster to the next.
Railtrack is not being renationalised, and the fattest cats are the most likely to get compensated for the company’s collapse.
Despite the swift failure of the "Public Private Partnership" to deliver the vital cash injection required to modernise air traffic control, and mounting evidence that PPP on the London underground will be equally ineffective at improving services, ministers are forging ahead regardless.
The evidence that Labour’s scrapping of student grants and imposition of tuition fees is deterring millions of working class students from applying to universities seems set to produce a plan for an alternative punitive tax on graduates rather than a progressive tax on top earnings.
Blunkett has tacitly admitted that Straw’s asylum policy was a complete shambles, but is still determined to impose a system that stigmatises asylum seekers and deters potential refugees from coming to Britain.
Blunkett’s mealy-mouthed downgrading of cannabis to a Class C drug admits that the law as it stands is unenforceable. But it is still illegal to possess and to sell cannabis, effectively forcing millions of cannabis users to deal on a daily basis with the criminals who import it, and the petty criminals who distribute it – often along with a variety of harder drugs. Blunkett still cannot explain how this fits in with New Labour’s mantra of getting "tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime".
Health Secretary Milburn’s answer to everything is to bring in the private sector – despite hostility throughout the Labour and trade union movement and evidence that this will do nothing to reduce pressure for emergency treatment, while worsening staff shortages in NHS hospitals.
Meanwhile as the economy teeters on the edge of a mounting global slowdown, manufacturing jobs continue to disappear, top bosses pocket average rises of 18%, and the bungling boss of British Telecom leaves the wreckage of the company with a massive £3m pay-off, there are growing rumours of plans to raise taxes – perhaps through an increase in National Insurance payments – to pay for the war effort.
All this just a few months after Labour romped back to office with another landslide majority.
If there wasn’t a war on, Blair’s team might have to consider starting one to divert attention from their failures.
The trade union and labour movement must ensure that while the anti-war campaigns are built the fight goes on against the politics of New Labour, which are continuing to run counter to the needs and wishes of working people.