Out of office, but not out of power

By Stella Creasy / @stellacreasy

Progressive values require us to stand firm for progressive ideals, whether Labour is in office or in opposition. Yet whilst our passion for social justice never waivers, we need to box clever in how it is expressed. It means not only holding the government’s programme to account, but also reshaping policy through championing the causes and communities about which we care.

Those elements of the coalition’s programme that run against our principles should be loudly criticised; and so too when the government overlooks policy areas to which we we are committed. We must fight to make them sit up and take notice. Above all, we must take responsibility for the ideals that make us politicians as well as legislators. If liberal-conservative instincts are allowed to roam free in power, without the social democratic check that the Labour Party can provide, then the poorest and most vulnerable people in our society are liable to be left behind. If markets are treated as sacrosanct, and the case is not made for intervention where they fail to act for the common good, then we are failing in our duty both to our constituents and our principles.

This week I introduced a bill which seeks to protect vulnerable consumers from the excesses of legal loan sharking. My first ambition is to make sure the government’s ongoing review of consumer credit and insolvency takes into account this uncompetitive and exploitative market and intervenes to protect its victims. Ministers, for reasons best known to themselves, have so far failed to respond formally to the measures proposed in the bill, and appear hesitant to accept the notion government can and should act on this issue. Their review is still committed to focusing only on store and credit cards – a market which many of the victims of legal loan sharks cannot even access.

I and many other Labour MPs, along with campaigning organisations like the Better Banking Coalition, End Legal Loan Sharks, and Compass take a different view. We are fighting for urgent action on this matter. With unemployment set to soar in both the public and private sector, it is no wonder that accountants Deloitte are warning of a widespread rise in bankruptcy. And with the impact of the cuts weighted against the poorest, there is no doubt that it is their personal finances that are most threatened. It’s set to be a bumper few years for legal loan sharks and high-interest lenders – something they themselves say.

These companies make massive profits by trapping people who cannot access credit from banks – mainly women and the low-paid – into endless cycles of debt, interest and late payment charges. They operate in a non-competitive arena – just six companies account for 90% of the market – so there is no downward pressure on the interest rates they charge, which range from 272% to 2,500% and more. And they destroy lives, leaving their customers crushed by anxieties over bankruptcy, bailiffs and repossession.

Being out of office as a party – and new to parliament personally – requires different political tools to progress social change. That’s why given their reticence to discuss these matters, I have now secured an adjournment debate for next week to discuss my bill. Convention means the government must respond – so ministers will be forced to go on record as to what they intend to do, if anything, about this issue.

Unless relentless pressure is applied to the government, this grotesque state of affairs will be left untouched. But thanks to the hard work of campaigners and supportive Labour MPs, we are in a position to start to shift the terms of the debate and force this issue on to the agenda. So when people tell you that there is nothing Labour MPs can do in opposition except wait to regain power, remind them that the fight for a good society is one which never ends, and that progressive politics is the only way to do it. Tell them to come to the debate next week and witness what happens when opposition MPs refuse to take “I don’t know” for an answer.

I urge anyone who cares about this issue, or who is worried about the effects of the government’s cuts on the most vulnerable people in our society, to contact sympathetic MPs and encourage them to attend the adjournment debate, which will be held on Tuesday 9th November at 11am in Westminster Hall. Members of the public can also attend, to help keep up the pressure on the government so that we can push for an end the nauseating practices of legal loan sharking once and for all. For more information on the measures proposed in my bill please visit www.workingforwalthamstow.org.uk.

Stella Creasy is Labour and Co-operative MP for Walthamstow