Leaving aside for a moment the
not-inconsequential question of how meaningful terms like left wing or right-leaning
are, a self-styled ‘right-leaning’ think tank produced a report last
week claiming that Labour could secure a huge majority if only they shifted
their social policies to the right. It’s a cunning plan – become indistinguishable
from the Tories on policy in a range of areas, and Tory voters might vote for
you. It’s hardly a new idea, though. It was, after all, Thatcher’s boast that
her greatest achievement was New Labour, meaning that she had shifted the
Overton window of political debate in the UK to the right in such a way that,
to stay within that window, Labour also needed to move right. And if we assume
that the prime function of any political party is to gain power, then pitching its
appeal to the beliefs and prejudices of the electorate is one way of doing
exactly that.
What it is not, however, is a
programme for change or any sort of demonstration of leadership. Nor is it
about setting out the possibility of an alternative future. It does seem,
though, to be exactly what Keir Starmer is doing, with or without being nudged
that way by Tory think tanks. And not only on ‘social’ policies. The think tank
suggests that a more left wing approach to economics is acceptable to voters as
long as social and cultural policies are right wing; but Starmer and his shadow
Chancellor are wedded to right wing economic policy as well. They are hopelessly
committed to the idea of avoiding new debt and repaying old debt, a policy
which is not only unnecessary, but which also commits them, one way or another,
to some variation on austerity.
Specifically, the report
suggests that Labour needs to appeal more to ‘authoritarian’ voters. A choice
between an authoritarian Tory government and an authoritarian Labour
government, pursuing broadly similar economic policies, is not the most
appealing prospect. It’s another argument, for those of us who believe that
there is an alternative, for Wales to go its own way.
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