Tom Harris has announced that he’s stepping down from the Shadow DEFRA team, as the job is incompatible with his family commitments. Writing for the Telegraph, he said:
“I know where my priorities lie; the task of juggling front bench responsibilities and being a husband and father to a young family located 400 miles away is simply beyond me.”
His decision will doubtless (and rightly) reignite the debate about how family-unfriendly the Commons is…
At the start of this week, 15 MPs issued a statement calling for an alternative to Labour’s current deficit reduction plans, a policy that would see the railways returned to public ownership and a more robust collective bargaining powers for workers, including better employment rights in the workplace. These proposals are not Labour policy and it’s unlikely that they will be before the election (or at least the first two won’t make it into the manifesto). But what do LabourList […]
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‘The frequency of talk about values is matched by a corresponding vagueness of the concept’ a famous German philosopher once wrote. In the run-up to the election, Labour is in danger of speaking with a tone of vague passion when talking about the NHS. We insist we’re the only party that can save this cherished institution, but sound unclear and woolly when interviewers ask what that means in practice. The polls aren’t necessarily on our side. Yes, the public think […]
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Angela Eagle has just been to hospital. Two hospitals to be precise. But fear not LabourList readers, there isn’t anything wrong with the Shadow Leader of the House. Quite the opposite, as Eagle – often stereotyped as dry and reserved, is fizzing with energy. The hospital visits (to London’s St Thomas’s and Guys) were part of a series of “workplace week” visits that she’s been doing as part of the launch of Unions Together’s Manifesto for Change. Manifesto for Change […]
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Unite, Labour’s biggest affiliate, have announced that they’re donating £1.5 million to the party’s campaign – and will consider donating further. The news was was made public in a statement from the union’s Executive Council. The union expressed concern that the Tories could be elected on a ‘tide of big business cash, while Labour remains under resourced.’ In July, we reported that the Tories campaign fund was three times bigger than Labour’s and over the summer it emerged the Conservatives had raised millions from private […]
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Recently, there has been a lot of comment about the drop in the number of people registered to vote. But instead of just talking about it, I suspect most colleagues are looking for are practical suggestions as to how this can be remedied. In my Borough of Sandwell, the Electoral Participation Officer has carried out research looking at whether 17-to-18 year olds who attend secondary schools in the area are registered to vote. Of the 16 schools in the borough, […]
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