Labour Offering An EU Referendum Is 'Silly' - Ed Balls

Ed Balls has come out of the wood work today to say Labour offering an EU referendum is 'silly'. Is it just me or is this guy actually deliberately trying to lose votes?

This comes after Len McCluskey has said Labour should offer an EU referendum or risk being 'boxed in' during the 2015 election campaign. For once I agree with Len. Over half of the British people want a referendum on Europe and in a close General Election race this could prove decisive. Labour may also start to win some of their voters back, they have as big a problem with UKIP as the Conservatives in many marginal seats leave alone socialist heartlands like Rotheram where UKIP won a huge amount of council seats this year.

For once I agree with Len.

There is also a risk that Labour could be the only party not offering an EU referendum at the next General Election. The Conservatives, UKIP and many minor parties will for sure, but rumours in Lib Dem HQ are that they will offer a referendum too.* In the end Len may force Labour's hand; he is bank rolling their whole General Election campaign after all. Of course this would make Ed Balls' comments look even more 'silly'.

Own Goal by not backing a referendum on the EU.

One other question that needs answering is why is Ed Balls, as Shadow Chancellor, in Labour's 'economic week', talking about an EU referendum? Is that really on topic? Ed Balls should be talking about you know the economy. Perhaps it is that Labour has got nothing to say on Economy and must resort to following the Conservatives in only talking about their policies? This seems most likely. At least we know one thing, it's one great Balls up.



*Not that anyone will believe them after they have already under Cleggers promised a referendum and deliberately broke that in government.

The Weekly Poll Lowdown (with a 2 and 1/2 week delay)

After a fairly long break of 6 days and having consigned weaknesses of 1920s Japanese Democracy and Mercantilism to the history books, #ThingsElliottSays has returned for a weekly (with a 2 and 1/2 week delay) poll lowdown.

Well, with a high turnout of 72, we have pretty accurate figures which show that 60% of you believe that an investigation should be launched into the practices of the Unite Union after the Grangemouth dispute. Just over a third of you however disagree, I'd expect some of these votes are from those who are fully paid up Unite (formerly Labour Party) members.

It was all happening at Grangemouth.

Should the Government launch an inquiry into the Unite Union and their tactics during the Grangemouth dispute?

Yes.	60%
No.	35%
Unsure.	6%

Total votes: 72

Firstly let's run through what has alleged to have happened. The Unite Grangemouth leader, a chap named Stephen Deans who was involved in the voting rigging at Falkirk, has been using 'leverage tactics' against Ienos the people who run Grangemooth. 'Leverage tactics' from eyewitness reports and photos is not setting up a picket at the factory and giving a friendly wave to all the people going in, nor is it going down to London to shout at central HQ. What it involves is a strong mob turning up at bosses houses, in Hampshire not Scotland, with a giant rat threatening and bullying families and then possibly telling everyone how evil the occupant of the house is whilst distributing wanted posters of him. All of these were tactics legitimised, organised and encouraged by Mr Deans, who Dave described as a 'rogue union official'. He seems a very nice man.

Someone's house is a totally legitimate scene for an industrial dispute according to Stephen Deans.

I am very surprised it has had to come to David Cameron and the police launching investigations into this saga. As a trade union which wants to command the public's respect and wants to look after members jobs, or should want to at least, the Unite Union when it heard of what has happened should have launched an investigation. However Len McCluskey has said there will be no internal investigation and any inquiry is a 'Tory Stunt'.

I don't have Pogonophobia or anything but I really hate Len McCluskey's beard.

Then, if Unite refuses to do something any trade union should do, the onus is on the very linked Labour party to see what sort of people they're dealing with as partners and find out what has been going on. Knowing how Ed Miliband wants an inquiry into absolutely everything, from the price of bananas to energy prices (which he made rise), it's surprising Red Ed hasn't called an investigation into this. Perhaps the fact that Unite now funds 77% of the Labour Party and Labour has announced it will no longer seek to change its role with trade unions is a reason why they're pretty happy with their current trade union standing.

I don't think it is right to intimidate and call it a 'protest'. Nor should you 'protest' at somebody's house and involve their family. In fact this reminds me of the nasty days of Labour and trade unions; perhaps we are returning somewhat to that. I doubt Ed Miliband will change any laws but he seems to be very good at turning a blind eye at all the things wrong with his party. 

Vote in the new weekly poll (I promise it will be weekly).

Need I say any more.

Back and Then Gone

I'm back after a break of a few days. Why, you may ask, were there no postings? Well it's because, between watching several episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus, I was unable to write from the shock of the Labour Party Conference.

You may remember that I wrote about how Red Ed is "bringing back socialism", well he really is. Labour are proposing price controls on Energy Companies, the Nationalisation of land not built upon by developers and the Royal Mail, raids on pensions through the pretence on a tax on bankers and the return to high taxes for all when we all know that the lower the taxes are the more money the government gets.

And why are they doing this? It's all because of Union control. Ed Miliband who was elected by them is now promising a return to an age where unaccountable Trade Unions were powerful over the people. Where unions could stop a country economically, nurses refused to treat people and corpses were unburied. The good old age of Socialist Britain, hey. I bet Len McLuskey is pleased though.

At least we can start filling in this empty book.

This is a stupid move for Ed Miliband because people don't want socialism. It's becoming clearer by the day as policy announcements unwind that this is a failed plan and many in Labour recognise this. Chuka Umunna, Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper are opposed to Ed's energy plans and so are Peter Mandleson and Tony Blair, who knows how Labour can win elections. Ed Miliband is going out of his way so much to make a 2015 Conservative Majority more likely. 

So what now for me? Well I'm off to conference to see Dave and chums tell us all what they have planned for a Conservative victory. I'm much looking forward to seeing friends and mocking Nadim Muslim, interim chair at Nottingham Trent, for his excellent photo on his pass. I want to do a few posts during conference but this may not happen because I want to be doing as much as possible. So see you in Manchester. 

Great Picture Nadim.

P.S. If you're dying to see the results of the weekly poll, I'll announce the results of the weekly poll on Thursday and do a short poll on Conservative Conference after that.

Bring Back Socialism

Ed Miliband told the general public today that he was 'bringing back Socialism' to Britain. Socialism of course is that great political economic philosophy which brought about such successes as stagflation, the Winter of Discontent, decline in manufacturing and the 1983 Labour Party Manifesto (known as the longest suicide note on history). Tony Blair made Labour electable in the 1990s by getting rid of clause four making clear that Labour would not bring back Socialism to Britain. Will Red Ed reverse it? his latest announcement is a result of trade unions tugging at his leash for sure.

Len McCluskey is up to his old tricks in Labour again.

Union Ed-Ache

Red Ed has big problems going on at the moment. The huge question of 'what should be the links between Labour and the trade unions' is causing critical problems. 

Will Red Ed still stay with his Red Unions.

It all started with Falkirk when Ed alleged the Unite Union had rigged the votes for the selection of the parliamentary candidate. Unite was allegedly signing up members to the Labour Party without their knowledge and then using their votes for the selection. In response two people were suspended from the Labour party by Red Ed and the Falkirk local party was put into special measures.

Was Len McCluskey making moves for the Falkirk Labour Party.

Red Ed used this moment to try get rid of the problem that has been facing him and Labour for years. Overly strong trade union control. Ed proposed that instead of implied consent for donation to the Labour Party from union members this should be an express voluntary contribution. This would mean however that Labour will receive less funding, Unite for example believes that of the 1.5 million membership only 60,000 will be prepared to fund Labour. 

This is a very big change for Labour and one which is the right path for them to take. People on the face of it may not care about union links but they care about its impact because the trade unions push the Labour Party further to the left when voters will only elect a Labour Party of a position closer to common opinion. This is also a policy is that trade unionists want with 60% of them wanting voluntary payment and only 30% opposing (10% of that 30% believe that all funding should be withdrawn). 

So what was the result of the Falkirk disaster for Labour. Well the Unite was absolved of all wrong doings, the two suspended people were re-instated and the candidate backed by Unite decided to stand down from the selection. In other words the Trade Unions are formally not guilty of any accusations Ed made, a very big mistake. This is made worse by Ed refusing to apologise for the accusations he made. 

Ed trying to grab for control of his own party.

But why was Unite absolved? It's because the evidence provided by two witnesses was withdrawn and the whole case against the union fell through. Why was that? We'll never know for sure because Ed refuses to publish the Falkirk report which would make it clear if the evidence provided was dodgy. However its unlikely to be so because otherwise why would Red Ed clearly state that the Labour Party rules had been broken by vote rigging? He's not that stupid to make serious allegations with no solid evidence.  

It could be that the witnesses were told to withdraw their evidence, this scenario seems to be getting more likely every day as the argument between the trade unions and Labour hots up. Has Red Ed been twisting the truth for political purposes by leaning on the witnesses?

Who will win the fight for power within Labour.

He definitely has a motive to do this as he wants the trade unions back on his side because they were deeply upset by the allegations and the moves to loosen the links between themselves and Labour. There is another consequence for the trade unions which is a lose in financial power to Labour means a loss in political influence, which they want to avoid. The trade unions are now thus trying to punish Ed Miliband where it hurts, in the bank balance, and force him to drop his plans. GMB has dropped its funding to Labour from £1.2 million to £150,000. Their reasoning is that this is the amount of money Labour would receive Ed's new union plans. However, it is clear to see this is a punishment and a warning to Red Ed not to do it. 

Will GMB continue to back Ed Miliband.

This is one right old mess for Ed to sort out. He has a decision to make of whether to back down, look weak and have greater trade union control in Labour but receive union money. Or he can decide that he will do what he says but lose vital funding and very likely the support of  the trade unions who win him votes as well as provide the pennies to run the General Election. 

Red Ed says there needs to be 'courage to change' the relationship between the trade unions and Labour. However this is one that is likely to end badly for the Labour Party because Ed has messed quite a lot up. 

The likelihood is this isn't going to change at all.

What is Labour Up to?

Does anyone actually know what is going on in the Labour Party at this moment? I don't, someone must do? Have you heard from Ed Miliband at all since the summer recess? No, neither have I. But what of the recent left wing media offensive? Oh yes, it has been on the Labour Party for not being left wing enough. Which kind of sets the tone really for what a Labour Government would be like. Its going to add nothing to the country except debt by carrying out leftie crack pot initiatives.

Labour should be on the attack at the moment if it wants to win the General Election. But its not. There aren't any policy announcements. Before the recess of Parliament it was already going pretty badly as Labour seemed to announce policies, then change them, then edit them again, then finally remove them altogether all in a week. No wonder that Red Ed is lying low at the moment when usually the opposition will be on the offensive. 

Red Ed has also probably learnt a lesson from the only policy he has come up with since July. Ed recently announced he wanted the 'scandal' of the existence of zero contact hours to be ended. Then somebody pointed out to him that these people have chosen to work under these conditions, that they often choose to because of flexibility, and thus this is not a case of employers brutally oppressing the masses like you will see in all socialist handbooks. Most importantly however is that the Labour Party in councils it controls use zero contact hours. So way to go, if you don't want zero contact hours don't vote Labour, they use them.

This is all you need to know about Ed Miliband. 

It's almost no surprise now that Labour Shadow Cabinet Ministers are having a go at Red Ed. Instead of doing nothing over the summer recess, Andy Burnham, you know the Shadow Health Secretary who when in government under Brown covered up 13,000 deaths in the NHS, has said "Labour needs to put its cards on the table" otherwise it could end in electoral defeat if people are not convinced by Labour "not much beyond spring." So there we are a party not happy with its leader and a maximum time scale set for Ed Miliband to try and get into a winning position, can they do it?

  No wonder Andy Burnham is sad, he has just seen the cliff Labour are about to drive over.

To make a change however all the leftie newspapers are on the attack. But they're are attacking Red Ed from not doing a good enough job, like Andy Burnham. Take a recent Polly Toynbee article on the care system 'Labour promises the total integration of health and social care budgets locally. But that can't be done when one system is free and the other paid for ... can Labour devise a universal care system?'. This doesn't look like great support from the left's media over Labour's plans of trying to stay as close as possible to coalition policy without the Unions dropping their funding.

Is Polly Toynbee going to even vote Labour in 2015? The Green Party is always a viable alternative Polly.

But where do they think Labour should be heading, well Polly answers that too. She says in the same article 'The nervous in Labour's ranks remember Tory gravestone posters at the last election, warning of Labour's "death tax" over a similar plan for a levy for a national care service. But doorstep evidence suggests it was a popular policy.' This is very interesting because it essentially says that Labour should return to the policies of tax everything, a lot. So Labour have two groups of people now moving them towards the Left. The leftwing media who convince a lot of their voters to vote for Labour and the Trade Unions. All of them are pushing them to the position of borrow even more than Labour actually want to and start running the UKs economy into the ground. 

 Labour policies are currently being pulled leftwards by the leftie media and Len McCluskey, head of Unite.

So what is Labour up to, except for the obvious over going to add almost £3000 of debt to every person in the UK? the short answer is who knows. The long answer is that all its supporters and even some of its MPs are attacking Ed Miliband and he can't even string a decent policy together. All we know is that under Labour the debt will be going up much more on all the stupid stuff they'd spend it on. 

Want to know what is going on in the Labour Party atm? Don't bother asking its leader.

Gap in the Market

Have you had a look at the Unite polling by Lord Ashcroft? Do, it makes good reading to see that only 12% of Trade Unionists want to be Labour party members and 53% of Trade Unionists would not opt into the political party fund. This is bad news for the Labour Party because funding will be cut off and it shows they are not really that in touch with what is their own stereotypical voter base.

 Everyday Ed Miliband becomes more out of touch with the public. No wonder not even Trade Unionists will back him.

But actually this poll is worse for the Conservatives because only 23% of Trade Unionists, who are a good representation of ordinary people, will vote for the Tories in 2015. How can this problem be overcome?

As a foreword nobody should expect a miracle sized amount of Trade Unionists to vote Conservative. The majority of unionists will be tribal or in the public sector who in no way are going to become Conservative voters. But considering that the Conservative Party needs to gain 3% in the polls an attempt should be made to try gain around 10% of trade unionist voters and importantly by doing this will become closer to getting real people in the country to vote for them. The idea at the moment of an 'aspiration nation' is good but the Tory Party must expand and toot three key areas greatly to win these voters and in 2015.  

We have got to keep proving as a party that we are an 'aspiration nation'. Everything needs to be centred round this and policies must be centred around ordinary people.

Education and Training is very important and has arguably been the most successful area of government policy. Parents are very keen children have a decent education and Academies and Free Schools have been improving this throughout the country. But what is also important is the alternatives to secondary school education and university. The lie of university for everyone has been well exposed and people are now looking towards apprenticeships and skill training for a future career. The Conservatives have achieved 63 per cent increase in apprenticeships because of investment. Such moves need to be made easier with greater benefits for firms, a tax cut for employing apprentices for example.

Taxes are down for the average family in the country but we could do more. Taking out of tax those who earn £10,000 or under is a good policy. Soon everyone hit but Gordon Browns 10p tax rate hike will be out of tax completely. But what about National Insurance for employer and employee which is taken off people's pay packet? There has been little change there and VAT has gone up to boot, not good. And what of those slightly above average? Middle earners are paying the most out of all the levels of tax in the country which is surely not good to inspire people to better their lives. Tax cuts for the average family are what is needed more than ever. We've made a good start but I'd like to see more in the 2014 budget. 

The price of basic commodities that everyone uses must come down too. The government has a large amount of control over the cost of items such as beer and petrol and it should be using this power to keep prices lower when too high. Take fuel duty, the government has already frozen and cut this to a small extent resulting in a motorist being 13p better off per litre than under Labour. However, there is still more to do as the average family still spends £1,700 in filling up their car. This turns out to be one tenth of a families salary so technically most families in the UK suffer from fuel poverty when driving. A sizeable cut in fuel duty and more robust measures to stop cartels would improve people's lives greatly.

The Conservative Party is starting to really get in touch with ordinary families but there is a long way to go before Britain truly is an 'aspiration nation'. There is a gap in the political market because the Unite Ashcroft poll shows Labour is failing on all these three areas. Only then will we win enough Trade Unionists and ordinary people's votes to form a government in 2015. 

Labour in Union Crisis

Labour is in a Trade Union Crisis.