Labour have had another good week campaigning towards the 12 December General Election. The week started with a focus on the NHS, before moving on to deal with Labour’s sensible approach to Brexit. On Wednesday Jeremy Corbyn gave a key speech on how to judge a Labour Government. Applying the same standards to the Tories or Lib Dem’s would immediately see them out of power. On Thursday a major speech by John McDonnell dealt with how a Labour Government would change the fiscal rules in light of Labour’s transformative tax and spending agenda. Labour also launched its proposals for women in the workplace which would transform the treatment of women at work for the better.
Tories Disaster Week
In comparison to the substance of Labour’s week of campaigning the Tories first week has been a walking disaster. Johnson’s speech launching their campaign did not survive an encounter with BBC fact checking. They find that many of his claims are at best misleading and some of them are simply not true. Whilst Johnson was busy launching the Tories election campaign his Welsh Secretary was having to resign because of his support for an aide who had deliberately scuppered a rape trial which then had to be re-run months later. If that is not bad enough 2 Tory candidates have had to stand down one, under pressure from Angela Rayner, because of rape comments. The other has resigned over sexual assault allegations and the seat will now be fought by his wife. One virtually unreported development is the comment by Ken Clarke, an MP for over forty years and Chancellor of the Exchequer in Margaret Thatcher’s government, that he will not be voting for the Tories in this election. The silence of the right wing press over this major development is mystifying!
And Next – the Yellow Tories?
The Lib Dem’s have not had a much better time of it. Firstly they woke up to the news that they have been rebranded as “Jo Swinson’s Lib Dem’s”. It does lead you to ask whether other brands are available? Secondly they have been forced to acknowledge and apologise for producing misleading leaflets about their chances of being elected in various seats. They now face the horrifying prospect of having to alter their campaign to include some minor elements of the truth. It could be difficult!
Labour International – “Campaigning all over the World”
Labour International members have been campaigning all across the world firstly to get people registered to vote and ensure they get proxy votes and also to explain the reasons they should vote Labour. This campaign is going well. We have seen a large meeting in Berlin, successful campaigning amongst backpacker is Australia and a voter registration campaign in Thailand to mention just three. These campaigns will be continuing and ramping up over the next few weeks. If you can help contact us
Building a Country for the Many not the Few
Finally it’s worth remembering that the policies Labour is campaigning on are policies supported by the majority of the population. For example:
76% want publicly owned railways
83% want publicly owned water
77% want publicly owned energy
81% want publicly owned schools
84% want publicly owned NHS
70% want publicly owned parks.
All of this and more can be done but only by electing a Labour Government on 12 December.
Bring on next week!