Labour should be standing for the millions not the millionaires

Wednesday’s Budget was notable for two things; one was the continued viciousness of what is probably the most right-wing Chancellor of modern times. Secondly, however, for me and many others it was of those depressingly rare instances when Ed Miliband managed to chime with the public mood. Other instances of this have been few and far between; Hackgate was one of them and arguably over the NHS he has captured the flavour of some of the mass anger at the governments reforms (misadventures in Hull aside). However, Paul Richards disagrees and argues that the millions against the millionaires is the wrong theme for Labour.

He reminds us that not many people are members of the Labour Party compared to the heady pre-1997 days and that our Budget response needs to chime with the wider country. Doubtless he is right that we need too, however, what is to say that Ed’s response does not?

In actual fact, support for the 50p rate is pretty widespread with opinion polls showing large margins in favour of its retention. Following the credit crunch and huge financial crash people are it seems no longer quite as relaxed about people getting ‘filthy rich’ as Lord Mandelson said he and the Party were back in the day.

A growing awareness that something went drastically wrong is slowly translating into active hostility against the perceived causes of our current woes. The government has cynically manipulated this to its own political advantage and to counter that Labour must have a convincing narrative about who really was to blame and what went wrong.

I see nothing wrong with citing the undemocratic concentration of wealth in the hands of a few as a major factor. This is not just because it satisfies my particular ideological bent but also because it happens to be true. If society had been fairer, household debt wouldn’t have risen to intolerable levels and similarly reckless speculation would have been curbed a priori by a more interventionist and socially aware state.

Paul, of course, wouldn’t agree but he, alongside many within this Party, is trapped in a timewarp. 1997 is 15 years in the past and I have yet to find anybody who can make a compelling case why what was successful then will be now in a world which is many ways completely and irrevocably changed. Indeed, those who are stuck in this political black hole are holding Labour back and acting as a barrier to achieving the electoral success we all crave.