Are we moving towards a government of national recovery?

Labour ‘leader’ Ed Miliband’s decision to throw his parties lot in with the coalition government’s cuts agenda must surely give rise to the question ‘what’s the use of the Labour Party?’ Because having long since abandoned the Labour heartlands - through its adoption of policies which have significantly widened the gap between rich and poor - it’s now set on a collision course with its own supporters in the trade union movement and the public sector workers they represent.

If that’s the case then why not go the whole hog and seek to enter government by becoming a junior partner in it? If there’s nothing to differentiate Labour’s policies, then surely that’s the obvious next step during these ‘straightened economic times?’

Three words, which in the case of all three major parties means refusing to accept that the accepted neo-liberal economic dogma of the last 35 years of letting the rich run riot by multiplying their incomes, at the expense of all others, is now threatening the very system they so passionately defend. One that it has to be said that continues to mean abject poverty for at least a 1/6^th of the world’s population, and alienation for a good many more.

Miliband’s move seems to be an attempt to imitate earlier election successes. First there was Labour’s promise not to alter the Tories spending for two years if they were elected in 1997. Then at last year’s election the Tories were unwilling to map out in detail what their promised CHANGE actually consisted of and the Liberal Democrats, of course, appeared not to be in favour of making any cuts – especially in student tuition fees.

However he could well find himself outflanked if the Tories are clever enough to go to the polls when really they’ve got no effective opposition – by which I mean from a Party, unlike Clegg’s lot, that actually could win a majority at an election. In such a case what is the worst that could happen for Cameron? He again ends up needing Liberal support, which from their actions over the last 18 months seems pretty guaranteed.

Also things aren’t going to get better – in fact, as I’ve written before the ruling class, which the Tories are part of, and all the political parties are working to serve; don’t want it to. They hope, and are using the current crisis to try and permanently drive down people’s standards of living and expectations.  I laughed when a Labour MP I know well – but who shall remain anonymous – told me in the middle of last year that the Tories would go to the polls before the Olympics. She might just be right, not that it’s going to do her much good.