Everytime I hear those words: "we've got to (insert cut, slash, burn proposal) we are clearing up the mess left by Labour", I shiver. As a member of the 'keep it simple, stupid' school of political thinking,, what could be simpler? There is no point anyone in the Labour Party pretending otherwise, the majority of the country including a fair proportion of Labour Party voters thought we had created a mess. Election defeat followed inevitably in May 2010. Worse, a Labour Cabinet minister, Liam Byrne, left a note on his desk for his successor proclaiming there was no more money.
The idea of that mess gelled, just as it did in the run up to and aftermath of Labour's defeat in 1979. In the months following the last General Election, it was a difficult idea to argue against. I was struck over 12 months ago how BBC1 Question Time and BBC Radio 4 Any Questions audiences were not easily swayed by Coalition spokespersons blaming Labour for their actions. But as a political 'given' holding back Labour's rating in the polls, and who could deny that, it is a lie that must be countered.
With a keynote speech from Labour leader, Ed Miliband to London Citizens, trailed last week, and another from shadow chancellor, Ed Balls at the Fabian Society's Annual Policy event yesterday, I couldn't help thinking - what better time than now to start putting the record straight? But no we were treated to more of the same neo-liberal economic dependence with a sprinkling of regulator exhortation that has characterised Labour economic mismanagement for the last twenty years.
The electorate deserves a lay person's narrative. 'You think Labour left the economy in a mess in 2010? OK, let's accept you are right. Growth today - lower. Inflation today - higher. Unemployment today - higher. So the economy's in a bigger mess under the ConDems, than when Labour left office. And tomorrow it will be worse.' (To be continued.)
