Going into opposition - heads held high

Ok, I recognise that I've stopped using the site for opinion pieces over the last year or so but...below is my take on what should happen. This doesn't attempt to set out the view of other Fabians or the Fabian Society at large but does give my opinion on the position the Labour Party and Gordon Brown finds itself in.

Graham

Going into opposition - heads held high

The very threat of a double dip recession, harsh benefit sanctions on the most vulnerable in our society and cut backs to some of the most progressive elements of the Labour Government's policies (Child Trust Fund, Sure Start etc...) makes this very hard to write. If you truly believe the Labour Party represents the best hope for the poorest and most vulnerable in our country and if you believe only the Labour Party can keep the union of Greater Britain and Northern Ireland together and that only the Labour Party will tackle inequalities then you shouldn't want to risk this by accepting that Brown and his cabinet have to accept defeat and move onto the opposition benches. But that is what needs to happen.

The failure of the Liberals to hold up their side of the bargain, means that the so called progressive alliance of Labour and the Lib Dems is not strong enough to control Parliament. Nick Clegg, the Guardian and all those who consider themselves on the centre left and voted Lib Dem on Thursday have let the poorest and most vulnerable in our society down. The Labour Party represented the best way to stop Cameron gaining power. Some commentary pieces in the last few days of the campaign made this point elegantly - urging people to only vote Lib Dem in the minority of seats where they stood a better chance of defeating the Tories than Labour. But these arguments should have been set out months ago by left thinking commentators if they were have the desired impact. In scores of seats the Tories won by a handful of votes because the anti-Tory majority were duped by the totally unfeasible idea that Clegg could stop Cameron. The perverse result of which may be a joint Cameron-Clegg government.

The truth is, as we are now finding out, that there is no progressive alliance in Britain. Students of the Lib Dems will have long since noted the strong centre-right approach to economics put forward by 'orange bookers', they will have noted the party's more recent willingness to cut back on tax credits or on scrapping the Child Trust Fund. They are a party happy to work closely with the Conservatives in council chambers up and down the country. Happy to see the public sector cut back and sent into retreat. It is now that the great schism in the Liberal Democrats is now coming to the fore, a social democratic support base finds its representatives in Parliament to be the true-centre right liberals many of us had suspicions they were.

Labour should balk at the prospect of doing a deal with such a party. Not because of unhelpful tribal loyalties but because the Liberals have proved themselves unworthy of a progressive alliance. As in the 80s they only serve to divide the centre-left vote and let the Tories in. They have had no significant role in Westminster elections over recent decades other than that.

Despite losing control of Parliament, Thursday appears to be something of a triumph for Labour. The Liberals are now being shown for what they are, allowing for a realignment of the centre-left vote to occur under the one true centre-left party in this country. Labour re-established a position of strength in local government up and down the country and proved itself to be the only party with real strength in all three countries of Britain. Gordon Brown can now takes his Party into opposition with his head held high. Proud in his achievements as chancellor and prime minister and proud of his record over the banking crisis. Fearful in the knowledge that the Conservatives and Liberal are about to put those achievements at risk but recognising the in the long-term, the benefits of the Lib Dems being found for what they are, increases the likelihood that the progressive majority of this country can make their voice heard through the Labour Party.

Graham