As we grind towards the end of 2024, what of the body politic? Next week an end of term report on the SNP’s comeback from disaster. But for now, let’s check in with the Labour Party.
By any measure this has been a thoroughly depressing and uninspiring year for humanity, in these islands and across the globe. It would be quite something if the UK government were to buck that trend. Though whether it needs to be quite this bad is arguable.
The character and content of this Labour government is defined by the manner of its creation. The people now in control of the Labour Party decided years ago to abandon any pretence of changing the world. Better to acquiesce in the conservative mediocrity which afflicts the British psyche than to challenge it.
So, Labour presented themselves as alternative managers of a failing British capitalism, offering stability and security. Steady the ship. They offered a safe home for anyone upset by the actions of the Conservative government, but no solace for its victims. The strategy was be quiet, sit back and wait, let the Tories lose.
And in its own terms it worked. Swathes of Tory voters deserted the old conservative party for a new one, secure in the knowledge that this change of allegiance didn’t require a change of belief or attitude. From benefit scroungers to immigrants, Labour offered a more humane version of their prejudices.
Traditional Labour supporters and anyone who did actually want to change the world looked on in horror. Legions of them stayed at home as turnout plumbed new depths. But it didn’t matter. The swing from the conservatives, and crucially the split in the support that remained, was sufficient to cover the loss of enthusiasm on the left.
As it usually does the first-past-the-post voting system corrupted the expressed opinions of the electorate and threw up a parliament whose composition was miles away from the views of the people. With barely a third of the votes cast in an election where two in every five voters stayed at home, Labour won a “landslide”.
So, Labour has a massive majority in parliament. Not only that but the Stepford candidates that make up the new intake in the parliamentary party can be relied upon to do what they are told. So, they could do what they want, right?
Wrong. The problem is this. Not only did Labour not promise anything much in the run up to the election, but demonstrably most people did not vote for it. It’s like having a double mandate to do nothing.
This might go some way to explaining the more bizarre decisions of the UK government in the last six months. Now in office their first concern is to earn their spurs as the natural party of government in Europe’s most unequal nation.
The people around Starmer calculate that there are no votes to be won in removing the two-child limit of state support for the poorest. But continuing it gives the impression to global capitalism that any social obligation they might face will be limited and controlled by a government happy to keep its population in line.
You’d think that by now Labour might be looking for a public relations win. Yet even in the week before Christmas the scrooge mentality triumphs as WASPI women are told to go way empty handed. The government pretends that their claim competes with funding for stretched public services. This is sophistry.
The proposal for compensation for 1950s born women came not from a campaign group or party, but from the Ombudsman service after a lengthy investigation which found the DWP guilty of maladministration. Compensation would have been paid from the National Insurance Fund rather than general departmental spending and defrayed over a number of years. Even at the full cost of £10Bn it would have been less than the surplus in the fund in the last year alone.
Labour’s stance on WASPI and their reversal of previous support is all about image, a pretence that they are a tough government prepared to take hard decisions.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I still prefer Labour to the Tories. It is good that, however minimally, they are increasing public spending. It’s just such a pity their argument for doing so is some technocratic nonsense about the figures not adding up, rather than a validation of collective provision. They seem almost ashamed about spending more on public services, doing so because they have to, not because they want to.
And they seem determined to fund the state by placing further obligations on ordinary people with average means, as the wealthy are excused.
None of this is working. All of it is depressing. But it is the long-term effect that is most worrying. Labour have switched off hope. By refusing to challenge the structural inequality of Britain they are creating the space for others who will. In England, those answers are now coming from the right.
In Scotland, we have the opportunity to give a different answer, rooted in taking control of our own affairs and making better choices. To realise that we will need a political party capable of galvanising and mobilising public opinion. A party that can unite the people behind a credible strategy for change.
We’ll look at how that’s going next week. In the meantime, season’s greetings.