Labour’s losing its heart when it rewards bankers but neglects ordinary workers

Avatar

By Alan GilesLDV

In last week’s budget New Labour and Alistair Darling spoke of Green Collar jobs and a greener economy. LDV wanted to make electric vehicles and a home-produced vehicle of this sort may well have become extremely popular and could have been the start of a whole new branch of the industry. Sadly, yesterday afternoon LDV went into administration.

On the more human side, it is terrible that, though pay has been guaranteed for last week it is only on Wednesday afternoon that the workers (800 of them) have been told that they may not be paid this week. Also, of course, this figure of 800 isn’t the end of it – it will also have knock-on implications for LDV’s suppliers, and it is quite likely some of them will also have to shed staff.

If some of the investment could have been provided by the government, it would not only have been a feather in their cap (it might well have saved several hundred of those 800 votes) but it would have given the signal that all that talk about “green collar jobs” was sincerely meant last week, and not just a few throw-away lines.

I feel that if we can invest billions of pounds for the banking sector we could have done something for our declining manufacturing sector at a fraction of that cost – and it would have promoted great goodwill amongst core Labour voters.

It might be a good idea to reintroduce, if in a smaller way, Harold Wilson’s National Enterprise Board which saved several companies and many jobs back in the 1970s. That organisation, much maligned at the time, helped many companies experiencing severe problems after the world oil crisis and Ted Heath’s three day week.

One success story was that of Sinclair Instruments run by a certain Mr Sinclair (the same Clive – later “Sir Clive” Sinclair, reputed to be Mrs Thatcher’s favourite entrepeneur). After spending a lot of money developing an early miniature flat screen TV, Sinclair found itself in difficulty. They also produced electronic measuring instruments for industry and the NEB money helped the company stay afloat. Just after Labour left office in 1979 Sinclair became even more succesful by developing the first British home computer (the Z80) and a whole new industry came into being. There is no doubt the home computer made Sinclair’s name, but if it hadn’t been for those humble instruments for industry Sinclair was making back in 1975 and the timely help from the NEB, there would have been no company in 1979 to develop the home computer, and launch the new industry which saw several other British companies enter the market (Acorn, Dragon etc) and thrive until IBM increased competition. But for a time, during one of the bleakest periods of unemployment these companies provided jobs for ordinary people often (as in the case of Dragon) in especially dire unemployment blackspots in Wales. Timex did a lot of sub-contracting work for Sinclair and this helped unemployment in Scotland by providing assembly work.

I feel one of the reasons that many ordinary Labour voters feel disenchanted with their party is because they see billions of pounds handed over to the banks, who continue to award themselves bonuses while we take on their “toxic debts”, and yet ordinary people, like the LDV workers, see their jobs disappear for the sake of investment of a tiny fraction of what we have paid the banks.

I am sure Alistair Darling is a decent man. To help LDV now would show that he meant what he said last week.

Electric vans would help in our efforts to have a less fume-ridden enviroment. Also, of course, many companies who trumpet their wish to help achieve a greener economy (by supermarkets trying to stop the use of plastic bags, or charging for them, for example) could prove their green credentials by buying these vehicles. Just the other day I saw a large van which seemed to have exhaust problems performing home delivery for a major supermarket (to save their blushes I won’t mention the name of this organisation who seem to have poorly maintained vans). An electric van would be ideal for this job – and for many others.

I hope it is not too late for LDV and that the government will give consideration to this idea.

More from LabourList

DONATE HERE

We provide our content free, but providing daily Labour news, comment and analysis costs money. Small monthly donations from readers like you keep us going. To those already donating: thank you.

If you can afford it, can you join our supporters giving £10 a month?

And if you’re not already reading the best daily round-up of Labour news, analysis and comment…

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR DAILY EMAIL