It is unprecedented, certainly in modern politics, for a Prime Minister to be changed twice in three months, without a general election. Whoever, the new Prime Minister is going to be, he or she will have no political mandate or moral authority to govern. There needs to be a general election as soon as practically possible. This government, of the rich, for the rich, and by the rich, has had its day and it has to go.
Working class households – the overwhelming majority of the population – are faced with the biggest cuts in their living standards for generations. Food prices, the cost of energy, rent, mortgages and transport – all of these things are out of control. The services upon which workers depend – the NHS, public education and local government services – are on their knees.
Workers in the public sector are particularly stressed, stretched to breaking point by overwork, short-staffing and miserly pay. For young people trying to start their lives it is increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to find an affordable home, either to rent or buy. Millions of families are now living in real poverty and that number is set to soar higher.
In what is still one of the richest economies in the world, the only growth industry we have are charities. Food banks have become a life-line to hundreds of thousands. It is worse than it was in the 1930s, when it was the unemployed who were forced to go to soup kitchens. Today, it is largely the employed, the working poor, who use food banks. There are even calls for food banks to be subsidised by the government.
Low pay, impoverishment, insecurity, uncertainty and fear – these are the hallmarks of everyday life for millions. Far from being ‘over’ as Boris Johnson claimed, austerity has never gone away. It is a situation that cannot be allowed to continue a moment longer.
The rich grow richer with each passing month
This is the dire situation faced by the real producers of wealth, the working class. Meanwhile, the rich and super-rich, most of whom play no positive social role in the creation of wealth, have grown wealthier with each passing month. They make tens and hundreds of millions by moving money around and gambling on shares, stocks and bonds, dodging taxes as they go, through offshore accounts and offshore-based companies. For these social parasites – none of whom rely on the NHS, public education or local government services – ‘austerity’ has no meaning.
Labour must be supported in getting into office as soon as possible. But it must be a government that is prepared to address all of the issues facing working class people. The clue is in the name – ‘Labour’. Its historic roots lie in the aspirations of workers for a better society and the momentum it will get in the coming general election – whenever it comes – will also ride on the aspirations of millions of ordinary households. The Party will stand or fall on whether or not it offers genuine change in the interests of working people.
Left Horizons will support the Labour Party in any coming election campaign. But we also need to warn that the more the Labour Party offers genuine solutions to the problems being faced by working class people, the greater will be their majority in a general election. The opinion polls that are showing Labour 25 and 30 points ahead will be translated into a massive parliamentary majority.
But, conversely, the more Keir Starmer prevaricates and hedges around his commitments with the need for ‘fiscal responsibility’ and the more vague his offers of meaningful improvements in the lives of workers, then the smaller will be his lead in the polls and his eventual majority.
Left Horizons has argued many times that we live in a period of great volatility, uncertainty and turbulence in politics and in economics. The kind of events we see today are unprecedented. We have had a Chancellor who lasted 38 days, which is a record, a Home Secretary who lasted 43 days, and a Prime Minister who has lasted 45 days, also a record.
The only certainties at the moment are the dire situation of the British economy, the cost-of-living crisis, the increasing precariousness of everyday life for workers, and the wave of trade union actions in defence of living standards. What workers now demand is another certainty – an end to this blighted government.
