So the game is on, four weeks today until the country decides about the future of our nation and what a decision it is to make. Over the past couple of years we have witnessed enormous changes to our economic security. Members of the public, not all fluent in economics, seem nervous in the face of the decision over which party can lead us towards growth. A bit like a jury deciding on a complex fraud case in a court, here the public have the fate of the nation in their hands on a very complex and technical subject. No surprise then that many are still undecided. There are three main concerns:
1: Gordon Brown led us into the economic recession – how can I vote for him?
He was in charge when the whole world was plunged into a banking crisis but has managed the recovery well to date. His priorities have been to keep people in their homes, get young people into work as quickly as possible, safeguard public services and keep spending money so that people had cash in their pockets. This is widely held to have been a success in limiting the effect of the recession. A global phenomena, the downturn would have happened whomever was in power at the time, Gordon Brown was in the eye of the storm steering the ship, we’re still standing if not a bit battered and bruised. He’s taken some of the blame by virtue of being in post through a very difficult time.
2: To spend or not to spend – Gordon Brown wants to get us into more debt
Although we’re now on the way up and out people are also unsure to vote Labour in case Gordon Brown’s economic plans prove wrong in the future. The debt is a concern. Think though that the Tories wanted to stand back and let the market crash take care of itself. If they were in government how many people would have lost their savings, their jobs and homes costing the tax payer enormously in state service provision and benefits? The country would have been by now on its knees, their record by now would have been devastating.
3: Surely big cuts are necessary – at least the Tories are being decisive
Today the Tories are championing a £6 billion cut as some sort of panacea. This means massive and immediate public sector job losses because the ‘waste’ they are describing are real people with homes and mortgages. Vastly fewer employees means fewer tax receipts and till receipts in shops. It means higher unemployment and benefits and without any job creation to compensate it means a worse situation for businesses, fewer public services and key services for vulnerable people. Basically the Tories would panic, pull out support en masse and cause more economic shocks to reverberate. Labour would cut spending in a more controlled way and have demonstrated to date they can manage the crisis whilst safeguarding the rest of the economy.
With such a choice at the election therefore, the public – the jury – need to make a careful judgement about who they believe will lead us out of the recession with resolve and careful planning, taking care to protect the vulnerable and disadvantaged and who will simply make wholesale cuts without thinking through their impacts on individuals, families and jobs. Remember also that the Tories are interested in the wealthier and more privileged and so will not take time to consider the plight of the single parent family dependent on tax credits or their low paid part time job. Their cuts will be cruel. Controlled spending is necessary, however worrying, to protect what we all have and Labour is the only party steadfast in the face of the challenge ahead.
