Time for our Bitterites to see the light
Every week I attend Labour’s meeting of MPs and peers – the Parliamentary Labour Party.
And every week I hear the same group of moaning Minnies pick a fight with the Labour leadership. I call them Bitterites.
Last week they moaned about wanting to stay in the Single European Market – ignoring the will of the majority of Brits who voted to come out of the EU because they wanted to end the free movement of people.
This week they went to war with Jeremy Corbyn over Russia – lining up with a Tory PM – even though he condemned the Salisbury poison attack and supported the Government’s response to kick out 23 Russian
Chancellor Philip Hammond announced in his Spring Statement that after eight years of failed austerity there was “light at the end of the tunnel”.
The man they dubbed Eeyore even said he was feeling “Tiggerish”. But his comments were Pooh. The fact is 95 per cent of this country, from those in poverty, to the “just about managing”, to the nurses, teachers and other public servants, were forced through the dark tunnel of austerity for no reason at all.
The Tories have increased National Debt by over £700billion, failed to meet countless targets to eliminate the deficit and caused the biggest squeeze on living standards since the Napoleonic Wars.
But the wealthy, the corporates and the bankers never met their Waterloo. They weren’t forced down the tunnel of austerity.
Instead they were allowed to bask in the sunlight of income and corporation tax cuts expected to reach £60billion. Tax cuts subsidised by you! Public sector staff suffered eight years of a pay freeze and pay cap that saw real-term pay cut by up to 14 per cent.
The Government has slashed council funding by half since 2010, meaning you’ll see more cuts to your services and a rise in your council taxes. So you’ll pay more for less.
And last week the Tories voted for a million kids in poverty to lose out on free school meals – just so the rich can get richer.
After years of austerity we now have a crisis in social care, an NHS on its knees, the lowest housebuilding in nearly 100 years and a doubling in the numbers of people sleeping rough.
And the Institute for Fiscal Studies said Hammond would need to impose tax rises and cuts worth at least £30billion to reach his target of balancing the budget by 2025. The only way we’re going to fix Britain by raising taxes.
And most governments hate doing that. Or any mention of them.
But increasing tax works. I wanted to introduce a shipping tonnage tax to encourage owners to relocate to Britain. Treasury officials opposed it but it worked and helped increase UK freight.
I also introduced the Congestion Charge in London, which cut traffic by 30 per cent – with proceeds ringfenced to improve public transport.
Tony Blair hated saying the “T” word. He suggested I introduce “a Climate Change levy” to reduce carbon and reduce fossil fuel powered energy. I replied: “Oh, you mean an energy tax?” Tony said: “No John, we never talk about taxation.” But now we really need an honest debate about increasing tax.
Brexit means we’re going to take an economic hit while we scramble for trade deals that could take several years to negotiate.
It’ll force us to take a fresh look at how we finance services and deliver sustainable growth.
That means moving to a fairer taxation policy where the burden falls more on the shoulders of the rich. Bring back Labour’s 50 per cent top rate of tax, increase National Insurance by a penny to pay for our NHS and put up corporation tax for big businesses – it’ll still be the lowest rate in Europe.
Hammond and the Tories have shown tunnel vision over austerity, where the many endure darkness for the wealthy few.
Politicians need to rip off those blinkers, act like grown-ups and accept that if we want growth, better schools and healthcare, we’re going to have to cough up. And make the rich cough the loudest.