Shadow cabinet minister backs Brown’s “centre-left” response to banking crisis

Shadow cabinet minister Jon Trickett today mounted a defence of the last Labour government’s actions during the depths of the financial crisis.

Trickett, shadow lord president of the council and Labour’s campaigns and elections director, said that because of “Gordon’s leadership” a depression was averted and the banks were not allowed to collapse.

“Imagine, if the banks had gone bust, one after another. The cash points running dry, people and businesses queuing on every high street. Because we had a Labour administration we acted.”

“Instead of what might have happened, we had an active government, protecting the common interest in the face of a possible market cataclysm. It seemed to me that was a classic centre-left moment” highlighting that the whole country and world saw these impressive actions.

Trickett was been Brown’s parliamentary private secretary between October 2008 and May 2010.

Speaking at a Fabian society event alongside Brown and Progress chair and backbencher Alison McGovern, Trickett made clear that “Labour is the party of devolution”.

He dismissed calls for an English Parliament, however, saying it would be simply Westminster by another name and would not deliver an improvement on the current situation.

He said that the previous “whisper of discontent is now a roar” following the Brexit vote, and the Leave vote must be understood from the perspective of the many regions left behind by a lack of investment from central government.

He made clear that “the country is embarked on a journey to a new settlement” and that this could either be led by “right wing demagogues” or by Labour.

Brown appeared to agree with the analysis, pointing to the lack of infrastructure investment across the country, with the North East seeing just £300 per head per year whilst London sees £1900.

McGovern said that “social mobility must mean more than a one way ticket to our country’s capital” and spoke of London’s wealth not trickling down to the rest of the nation. She supported the need for devolved control of economic policy, saying that “in economic fortunes, geography matters”.