View From The House - 20th May 2004

Reprinted From The Lichfield Mercury

The debate raging in the Labour Party and the media regarding the future of Tony Blair makes politics interesting, but is ultimately sterile. The debate is real enough: four previously loyal Labour MPs told me over the past week that if Labour does badly in the local and European elections in June, Blair must go.

But apart from achieving a possible short-term political advantage through Labour having a fresh face, where does that leave the country? It’s not hard to speculate that if Tony Blair is replaced, it will be by Gordon Brown. Indeed, it was interesting to hear John Prescott admit over the weekend that there was a complete breakdown between Blair and Brown shortly after achieving power, but that the relationship now is ‘better’. It’s good to know that they are now talking.

Old Labour believe that Brown will return Labour to its traditional roots with policies that will reflect this. But that is unlikely. The pressures which have resulted in Staffordshire still being amongst the worst funded counties for education arise from Gordon Brown’s Treasury, not Number 10 Downing Street. The closure of the Hammerwich Hospital and the Victoria to be replaced by a hospital with fewer facilities than we have at present - despite a massive increase in housing in the area - also stem from Gordon Brown’s Treasury, not Number 10 Downing Street. And Gordon Brown also supported Britain’s entry into the war in Iraq.

More to the point, Gordon Brown has implemented 66 different tax rises since being Chancellor raising the tax take by 53% over the last 7 years. Combined with rising interest rates, this will soon affect everyone’s income. Although Britain has enjoyed unrivalled growth and stability since 1994 under John Major, this is all now likely to be shattered as all independent economic analysts predict that there will be a £13 billion hole in Brown’s budget in 2005 which will have to be plugged by either cutting back services or raising taxes still further. The only real difference between Brown and Blair is that Gordon Brown is far more sceptical about Britain and its relationship with the European Union which is currently costing each and every British family £1,000 a year. We pay out as a nation £30 billion a year more than we get back from the EU. And this money goes to countries like Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Greece, and Italy. It will get worse now that the EU includes countries in eastern Europe.

Indeed, the rift between Blair and Brown is nothing to the rift between the Parliamentary Labour Party in Westminster and Labour Members of the European Parliament. On numerous occasions, Labour MEPs have defied Blair and Brown. The most recent occasion is when Labour MEPs voted twice to remove Britain’s opt-out from the European Working Time Directive: a law that has caused economic stagnation on continental Europe and is bitterly opposed – rightly – by the present Labour Government in London because it would cause unemployment here in Britain too.