Brent North CLP want to see rethink of Ed Balls' austerity-lite strategy

Ed Balls reacts to the Brent North motion (not really!)

As the Green Party positions itself as the only anti-austerity party in the forthcoming General Election, and recruits hundreds of  ex Labour voters, many in the Labour Party are dismayed that Ed Balls seems to be painting them into an 'austerity-lite' corner.

Locally this has emerged in a motion tabled by Labour veteran Colin Adams at Brent North Labour Constituency Party General Meeting last Thursday.

The motion claimed that Balls' approach is 'hardly designed to  win over any of our potential voters who may be wavering, as it send a message that there is not much to choose between the main parties in their approach to austerity and its impact on the welfare state.'

I couldn't have put it better myself.

This is the full text as tabled:

Brent North CLP is extremely concerned that the Coalition government`s cuts to public sector spending are causing huge damage to the fabric of the welfare state. The Coalition parties have shown that their policies are not governed by economic necessity but by ideology. They are committed to shrinking the role of the state and allowing public services to be taken over by the market. In Brent, as in other councils, impossible decisions about which services should be prioritised for cuts are being forced upon local politicians.

Labour must go into the upcoming election with policies that show clear differences with the Coalition parties, otherwise there is a grave danger we will not win an overall majority. In particular we need to show that we are prepared to fund local services adequately.

We were thus dismayed at the recent statement by the shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, that the election of a Labour government would not necessarily lead to an easing of the pressure on public services. This approach is hardly designed to win over any of our potential voters who may be wavering, as it sends a message that there is not much to choose between the main parties in their approach to austerity and its impact on the welfare state. It is electorally damaging to say we are going to stick with the existing government`s spending plans.

We call on the Labour leadership to rethink this strategy and state that, upon  the election of a Labour government, a new budget will be drawn up for immediate implementation with the aim of reflating the economy and protecting public services.                   

'EU measures aimed at deflecting attention from benefit cuts'-Lambert

Information you don't often see

London’s Green MEP Jean Lambert has accused Tory PM David Cameron of trying to deflect attention from his own government’s benefit cuts by announcing measures to reduce benefit payments to nationals of other EU countries - over a million of whom live in London.

“This is all about deflecting attention from benefit cuts, and not really about protecting UK benefits and public services at all,” she said.

“People should bear in mind the principle that EU nationals are entitled to treatment on the same basis as a national, including access to social security- so what is Cameron’s message to us, if he’s planning to change the rules? That you will lose your right to benefits if you have no realistic chance (defined by whom?) of finding work after six months? That if you are homeless, you cannot be looking for work and will be punished accordingly?

“’Benefit Tourism’ is a myth - not borne out by the facts at all, as the EU Commission and the OECD have made clear. In fact, those born outside the UK tend to pay more tax, and claim fewer benefits, than those born here – they are, as a group, net contributors to the public purse.

“Overwhelmingly, people come here to work and some come because they feel safer here than in their home-country: both of these say very positive things about the UK. David Cameron prefers not to recognise that - he’s too busy looking for the next set of benefit cuts.”

The People of Tower Hamlets Speak Out on Cuts