Friday, August 14, 2015

Corbyn and Labour

I lean to the left, and hence I've always associated with Labour and to some extent the Lib Dems over the Tories. Studying economics brought me towards the centre (hence I only lean left these days), but there's little doubt that economics is not the neo-liberal profession many outside of it believe it to be. There's plenty even in basic economic theory that questions any unfettered allegiance to markets (say, a half hearted examination of the assumptions surrounding perfect competition or monopolistic competition).

Labour under Blair and Brown from 1997-2010 was arguably the most economically competent government we've had in the UK in a long time. There was no ERM-like fiasco, and there were many decisions taken after considerable economic evidence was canvassed (e.g. the euro). Labour had the right idea about immigration, embracing it as a way to enrich our economic and social lives. Like anything it isn't perfect, but the benefits far outweigh the negatives of it.

However, Labour is now in the electoral wasteland and the current crop of leaders, with the exception of one, are pretty uninspiring. The one who is inspiring appears to have generated the biggest push in Labour membership in decades and would appear on the face of it to be good news for the party.

He's sufficiently left wing that the right-wing press don't like him much, and the sad thing about his rise is that it's been accompanied, by and large, by attacks by those nearer the centre. Attacks that don't really address why renationalisation of the railways and energy companies would be a lousy idea, but instead simply say "you're wrong, we know you're wrong" without saying why it's wrong.

Equally, the fervour with which Corbyn's supporters dismiss anyone slightly less left of centre than Corbyn is sad. The other three candidates are not right wing, they are not Tory lite (if anything, it's the Tories that are Labour lite given the most recent budget).

If I'm honest, the problem I have with Corbyn isn't his renationalisation plans, nor his seemingly inflationary QE idea, but that I am sceptical that this surge in support for him will translate into votes. Not least that the numbers registering to vote are way short of the 2m fewer votes Labour got than the Tories in the general election, but that these are the types of people who just don't vote. Once the fervour has died down and we get nearer to 2020, will they turn out and vote then?

I'd love it if they did, but I'm sceptical...

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