VOICE OF CONSCIENCE: Why Labour copycatting the tories would be fatal

VOICE OF CONSCIENCE: Why Labour copycatting the tories would be fatal: For many of us Ed Miliband's election as labour leader seemed to augure well.He officially administered the coup de grace to the dis...

Why Labour copycatting the tories would be fatal

For many of us Ed Miliband's election as labour leader seemed to augure well.He officially administered the coup de grace to the discredited New Labour agenda and attacked unacceptable aspects of capitalism.It greatly encouraged many of us who want a centre-left party that aspired to social justice,redistributing income and breaking away from the centre right political consensus that deified free markets.This consensual paradigm was utterly destroyed by the credit crisis.

 However,recently these attempts to create a genuine alternative to neo-liberal austerity have been jettisoned.Instead Labour is reverting to "copycat" policy formation.I was stunned to hear that Labour intends to stick with tory spending plans for 2015-16 if elected.This ersatz toryism-,sticking to austerity plans- will be seen as cynical opportunism,crude copycatting. It will greatly undermine Labour's credibility.It will be seen as unprincipled .Given a choice between a party with an ideological love of austerity(the tories) and a fickle "me too" party labour will appear disingenuos and fake.Electorally it will be disastrous for labour.People will simply vote for the true believers.The disaffected majority will simply not vote or vote for the greens or UKIP.
On an economic level,Ed Balls himself has rightly criticised Osborne's plans as destructive to the economy and society.
Deflationary austerity is killing growth,fostering 1980s levels of unemployment and widening inequalities.Austerity is exacerbating the debt problem as Ed Balls again has rightly claimed.Zero growth and job creation mean lower tax revenues which makes it longer to pay the debt back.Demand stimulus is the only way to resolve the debt situation.No more borrowing is needed.Instead of printing money for Quantitative easing what is needed is to increase the money supply to stimulate businesses and inaugurate a large scale job creation programme.The spectre of inflation is often used to discourage this.However,wage pressures are very low and for many wages have fallen.So inflationary pressures are negligible.In any event,price controls and collective bargaining norms could be used even if inflationary pressures were there.
People are crying out for an alternative-for hope,for a future and for jobs.My message to the two Eds is: people do not want more of the same,it will destroy your credibility if that's all you offer.Offer people a future of growth,prosperity and fairness-not cynical copycatting.