Give it a rest

By Emma Burnell / @scarletstand

David Cameron has every right to go on holiday.

Don’t get me wrong, the inept mismanagement of having most of the top team including the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Home Secretary (surely in domestic policy terms the top three decision makers) as well as the Mayor of London away at the same time was exemplary of the slipshod approach to government by this shower.

The fact it took Cameron three days to make the very quick journey from Tuscany to London (and putting out a puff piece about tipping a waitress (something that is only news when you don’t normally do it Dave) in the meantime) once again shows up his shoddy attitude to leadership.

Cameron scurrying back to claim credit for Libya in a way he patently hadn’t from Italy to help the people of the country he’s supposed to lead was shoddy opportunism and looked like it.

These are valid criticisms that Labour can and should make of the government’s actions during August alone. There was a serious lack of leadership, of coherence and seriousness.

But as David Cameron went off to Cornwall to top up some of the holiday he’d missed there was a great deal of criticism from many Labour activists about the fact he was taking holiday at all. I think this is a mistake.

I understand the short-term wins. It does indeed show up the way in which we are certainly not “all in it together” when some can afford five holidays a year, while the rest of us struggle to afford anything at all.

Short term wins can also be important. We want to maintain both a momentum and a presence in the national conversation. But there is a bigger and more important principle at stake. 28 days statutory paid holidays for full time workers is an important victory for the labour movement and Labour Party. This right is something we should be proud of. The fact it is universally awarded, even to those who fought such measures tooth and nail is equally something we should be proud of.

For me there are far too many risks associated with attacking a hard won right for the sake of a quick win. The wins we have made on rights are fragile enough – with a vicious Tory Right chomping at the bit to reduce them wherever possible. Look at the endless attacks on minimum wage, redundancy rights and indeed holidays from some quarters. We should not do the Tories job for them.

If we start to undermine the principle of the right to leave, our opponents will abuse this more than ever. In the name of “all in it together” we could start to see these rights eroded. We need to respect them, even if we don’t respect everyone who benefits.

Britain has a better work/life balance because of a measure brought in by the Labour Party. We should take greater pride in that fact. So off you go Mr Cameron, enjoy your statutory 28 days, safe in the knowledge that it was a Labour government that made it happen – for you and for everyone.