An Open Letter to the New Leader of the Labour Party
Given that this is my 100th Blog and that tomorrow is a monumental day in Labour party History I have taken the opportunity to write to the New Leader.
First of all May I congratulate you on your election to the post of Leader of the Labour Party. What the party needs now is to unit under you and be a strong opposition to the Coalition. I believe the Labour Party is a “Broad Church” and should incorporate all the Labour Leader Candidates in the Shadow Cabinet. We must learn from our Past and not go back the Opposition Labour of the 80s we must offer a coherent opposition to the Coalition, we must fight the cuts based on arguments that give an alternative to the depth and speed of the cuts. We must defend Labours record in Government.
Labour must remember its past its links with the Trade Union Movement, The Socialist Society’s and the co-operative Party. We must not be frightened to use the word Socialism but we can’t go back we must move forward we must be a party ready to govern but we must not sell our principles. We should not be the party of Big business but the party of the individual. The Party that encourages people to work but helps if you are too ill to work. The party of Growth not cuts. The party who created the NHS a party who it is save in the hands of.
We must show we want reform of Westminster but full reform not just of the House of Commons but an Elected Second house. We must bring back accountability and not make our MPs more remote we should therefore not support a reduction of the number of MPs. We should be offering the electorate a choice of voting preferences rather than a take it or leave it option.
To sum up New Labour Worked but we need to move on I liked the phrase Aspirational Socialism what ever we move to the party must get behind it.
Michael Grieve
What Have Labour Done for Us ?
Below I have listed 50 achievements of the 1997 to 2010 Labour Governments. We should be proud of these achievements and must let people know of them
1. Longest period of sustained low inflation since the 60s.
2. Low mortgage rates.
3. Introduced the National Minimum Wage and raised it to £5.52.
4. Over 14,000 more police in England and Wales.
5. Cut overall crime by 32 per cent.
6. Record levels of literacy and numeracy in schools.
7. Young people achieving some of the best ever results at 14, 16, and 18.
8. Funding for every pupil in England has doubled.
9. Employment is at its highest level ever.
10. Written off up to 100 per cent of debt owed by poorest countries.
11. 85,000 more nurses.
12. 32,000 more doctors.
13. Brought back matrons to hospital wards.
14. Devolved power to the Scottish Parliament.
15. Devolved power to the Welsh Assembly.
16. Dads now get paternity leave of 2 weeks for the first time.
17. NHS Direct offering free convenient patient advice.
18. Gift aid was worth £828 million to charities last year.
19. Restored city-wide government to London.
20. Record number of students in higher education.
21. Child benefit up 26 per cent since 1997.
22. Delivered 2,200 Sure Start Children’s Centres.
23. Introduced the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
24. £200 winter fuel payment to pensioners & up to £300 for over-80s.
25. On course to exceed our Kyoto target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
26. Restored devolved government to Northern Ireland.
27. Over 36,000 more teachers in England and 274,000 more support staff and teaching assistants.
28. All full time workers now have a right to 24 days paid holiday.
29. A million pensioners lifted out of poverty.
30. 600,000 children lifted out of relative poverty.
31. Introduced child tax credit giving more money to parents.
32. Scrapped Section 28 and introduced Civil Partnerships.
33. Brought over 1 million social homes up to standard.
34. Inpatient waiting lists down by over half a million since 1997.
35. Banned fox hunting.
36. Cleanest rivers, beaches, drinking water and air since before the industrial revolution.
37. Free TV licences for over-75s.
38. Banned fur farming and the testing of cosmetics on animals.
39. Free breast cancer screening for all women aged between 50-70.
40. Free off peak local bus travel for over-60s.
41. New Deal – helped over 1.8 million people into work.
42. Over 3 million child trust funds have been started.
43. Free eye test for over 60s.
44. More than doubled the number of apprenticeships.
45. Free entry to national museums and galleries.
46. Overseas aid budget more than doubled.
47. Heart disease deaths down by 150,000 and cancer deaths down by 50,000.
48. Cut long-term youth unemployment by 75 per cent.
49. Free nursery places for every three and four-year-olds.
50. Free fruit for most four to six-year-olds at school.
Thursday 5th February 2009
I have become a recent recruit to the joys of Social Networking.
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