Hilary Benn’s fake struggle against ISIS
December 2nd in the House of Commons saw one of those pantomimes that if it did not result in the death of thousands of people could form the basis of a Whitehall farce.
Britain
Right forces ‘free vote’ on Syria
Monday’s decision by Jeremy Corbyn to allow a free vote for Labour MPs on the Tories’ proposal to bomb Syria was clearly not the position he preferred Labour to be in. He had earlier been reported as wanting the vote whipped, and his own opposition to bombing is unquestioned.
Alternative Autumn Statements: continued Tory failure versus Corbynomics
There is a concerted effort in the Tory press and beyond to prettify the latest Autumn Statement from George Osborne. There have even been ridiculous claims that it represented ‘An end to austerity’. At the same time the Tories have attempted to seize the political initiative by immediately switching the political agenda to bombing Syria.
The article below, by Michael Burke, demolishes the myth that austerity is over. In fact there is a renewed austerity offensive. The article first appeared on Socialist Economic Bulletin here.
Right keeps up the pressure on Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Corbyn once again put Cameron on the back foot at PMQs last week, pressing him yet again on his plans on tax credits since the defeat in the Lords. Corbyn’s remark – ‘this is not a constitutional crisis, but a crisis for hardworking families’ – is a memorable put down for a Prime Minister who has attempted repeatedly to shift the debate away from the impact of the cut in tax credits to the alleged scandal of its rejection by the Lords.
But despite these successes, the right have not let up on their anti-Corbyn offensive.
Right-wing hysteria as Corbyn consolidates team
By Jane West
The appointment of Seumas Milne as Labour’s director of strategy and communication is the second key appointment of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership to come under particularly frenzied attack from the Tory media – the first being the appointment of John McDonnell as Shadow Chancellor. The reason is that each decisively indicated the fundamental orientation of the Corbyn leadership of the Labour Party and that it had no intention of backing down in the face of the hostility of the right.
How Labour should deal with the Fiscal Responsibility Act
Labour took its first step to economic credibility by Jeremy Corbyn’s appointment of John McDonnell as Shadow Chancellor. It was vital to appoint someone who would break from the confused economic policies pursued by previous Labour administrations and in opposition. John McDonnell’s was the correct appointment and he proved it immediately and at Labour conference. His establishing the position that Labour would not run a budget deficit over the course of the business cycle on current expenditure, but would borrow for investment, was precisely the correct position. It was in line with the theoretical analyses of both Marx and Keynes. It provided the framework for the other correct polices that began to be laid out at the Labour Party conference – for example on the National Investment Bank, opposition to removing the budget deficit by cuts to welfare.