I have just got back from the House of Commons after the debate on the Government's Bill to privatise the Probation Service and Prisons. 23 Labour MPs voted against the Government and about 33 abstained. Nevertheless the Government's proposals were voted through the Commons with majority of 25 and now go on to the Lords.
Gordon Brown intervened personally to get the privatisation bill through the Commons by calling in individual Labour MPs to meetings with him in order to persuade them and indeed threaten them to vote for the privatisation.
In opposition when the Tories started the process of privatising our prisons both Jack Straw and Tony Blair described the use of the private sector in the process of imprisoning our fellow citizens as immoral.
To justify this privatisation policy John Reid and his junior minister Gerry Sutcliffe did the usual dressing up of the privatisation as just another way of allowing the voluntary and charitable sector to play a wider role in providing probation and prison related services.
The reality is that the probation service and prisons will be packaged up into sizeable contracts which will be bid for by a near monopoly grouping of transnational corporations like Securicor. Huge profits will then be made at the expense of cuts in the wages, conditions and pensions of the workforce and by reductions in the quality of service to clients and inmates. The government will eventually claim that it has invested vast sums in both services but just like the NHS tax payers this taxpayers' money will have been laundered into private profits.
Without any flicker of conscience Labour MPs trotted dutifully through the lobbies to vote for this handing over of yet another section of our welfare state.
Gordon Brown urged us all last year to be advocates for globalisation. New Labour MPs have obviously taken this to heart. We saw tonight globalisation at work. After a long but very powerful and effective lobbying campaign transnational corporations have effectively used a New Labour Government to prise open this vital element of the British welfare state for profiteering.
Some concessions were forced out of Reid such as a 3 year delay in the implementation of some elements of the privatisation process and that the existing probation officers will be allowed to compete against the private and voluntary sector for their own jobs. However I somehow doubt whether this will send the thousands who work in this service and their families off to the polls at the next election with a song in their hearts determined to vote Labour.
We will now do our best to defeat and, failing that, amend further this legislation in the Lords but the privatisation feeding frenzy under New Labour goes on apace. Last week I discovered that the Government is privatising the CoastGuard Service in a contract worth about £3 to £5 billion.
There are times when you feel ashamed of what this Government is doing in the name of our party.
Tonight was one of those times.
30 Comments:
In ten years time our prisons could be run as well as our immigration prisons.
What are they going to privatise next? The air?
Bollocks, I've forgotten, they've already done that.
John, you're not going to win.
I'm the only one who can defeat Brown!
Isn't there policy against wackjobs posting on this forum?
Keep up the good fight John - you're the only thing that's keeping me in this party at the moment
Glad you're there voting against these kind of bills John - I always suspected Brown's conversion to 'boosting the charitable sector' was just like Cameron's - a euphemism for privatisation - government handouts to big firms.
This just confirms that.
Please notice that Stephen Hepburn, who recently started an EDM condemning the erection of a statue of Margaret Thatcher and her divisive and destructive policies, voted in favour of the privatisation of the probation service. I'm sure he could write a sound intellectual thesis on why these two actions do not contradict each other, and indeed support each other - I would love to see it.
Is there a list of rebels anywhere?
Born-again leftie Peter kilfoyle writes in today's Guardian that John denham is the best candidate ( although he'snot actually standing) and that John is "doomed to failure" ,not because he's not the best candidate, but a member of the campaign group and therefore unacceptable. Hello??????If John doesn't get on the ballot it's the fault of MPs like Kilfoyle who bang on about how they hate Blairite policy but won't lift a finger to help change course.
e-mail him nicely @ kilfoylep@parliament.uk
probation rebels were: Diane Abbott, Colin Burgon, Martin Caton, Katy Clark, Jeremy Corbyn, David Drew, Paul Farrelly, Paul Flynn, Neil Gerrard, Ian Gibson, John Grogan, Dai Havard, Kelvin Hopkins, Lynne Jones, Peter Kilfoyle, Bob Marshall-Andrews, John McDonnell, Michael Meacher, Gordon Prentice, Linda Riordan, Alan Simpson, David Taylor, Bob Wareing and Mike Wood
Can we presume that, henceforth, Meacher will be following John M in the divisions?
Diane Abbott! Isn't she a hypocrite? I'd also like to know whether she gets paid for her appearances on the BBC.
Of course, probation in Scotland was not being privatised last night, and it's not run the same way here anyway. But the New Labour ideologues in charge of the party here are still forcing through their privatisation drive - and indeed it's now fronting the Scottish Parliament election campaign.
Under the heading "Nationalists warned over PPP" today's Herald (biggest Scottish quality daily paper, published in Glasgow) reports:
"Labour clashed with the SNP yesterday over funding for new schools and hospitals, with ministers claiming that Nationalist opposition to private finance would result in cancellation of hundreds of projects."
http://www.theherald.co.uk/politics/news/display.var.1226688.0.0.php
Yep. We're aguing privatisation is good. They're arguing that it's not (there are plenty of problems with what the SNP is arguing for, but that's for another discussion).
Unfortunately for NuLab and McNuLab, privatisation is still obviously putting voters off in droves. The same issue of the Herald contains the latest poll results:
"On the constituency voting intentions, covering 1004 people between 23 and 26 February, ICM put the SNP on 34%, Labour on 29%, and the Liberal Democrats and Tories each on 16%.
"That represents a change on ICM's findings from January of a one point gain for the SNP, two points down for Labour, with the LibDems down one and Tories up three. The smaller parties shared 4%."
You can read that again. Labour 29%. In Scotland.
Our election campaign here is in crisis. The usual scare tactics about breaking up Britain are no longer working; the First Minister's top backroom election adviser quit last week to spend more time with his family; and high profile visits by Blair and Brown seem (how strange) to have only confirmed the SNP lead in the polls.
And here is what the actual MSP candidates think, according to Herald Political Editor Douglas Fraser: "Labour may wheel out big election guns but MSPs want it local"
"...ask those MSPs hoping to return to Holyrood after May 3, and many say they'll be running local campaigns. Would they like a visit from Tony Blair or Jack McConnell? Er, thanks all the same, they say, but that really won't be necessary.
"Instead, they want to play on Labour loyalties, firming up a vote that feels soft. Reminders of the current leadership won't help."
http://www.theherald.co.uk/politics/holyrood/display.var.1220774.0.0.php
Indeed talk and planning now appears to be for damage limitation. The Labour vote *is* now incredibly "soft". Even in Scotland "our people" are ever less enthused about voting Labour. The usual expectation would be for the Labour vote to firm up as polling day approaches. But the candidates are nervous, more nervous than ever. We might be about to lose comprehensively in Scotland for the first time in generations.
John's analysis on this blog is spot on, and confirmed in what is often supposed to be natural labour territory up here in Scotland. NuLab has squandered the opportunity of 10 years ago, yet marches blindly forward towards its self willed precipice.
Blair is a liability. So is Brown (even up here - viz Dunfermline West by election disaster just over a year ago). It's not all about Iraq by any means, though clearly that's destroyed trust in the government; we need to start representing our people again - and we can't do that by the kind of right wing "cost of everything value of nothing" public-bad-private-good neocon market ideology that has led us to this dismal situation (and of the kind we can only imagine Clarke and Milburn will promote with their "stalking elephant" website).
John's calm, reasoned and moderate campaign, based firmly on democratically agreed policies and a wise socialist interpretation of the daily realities faced by the vast majority of people, stands in clear contrast to the swaggering but empty and vicious snake oil peddlers in charge now.
Keep it up John. You are doing a great and essential job for the Labour Party. It's a pretty messy stable to clean up, but we have to start somewhere.
Get on the telly. Get on the radio. Get in the papers. Get in the blogs.
Get on the ballot paper.
And then we'll get the public debate which we need.
Great post, Malky.Just to say that following Peter Kilfoyle's piece in the Guardian today I have e-mailed him asking him to help us get the 44 nominations.
We nee#d tokeep putting on the pressure in a reasoned and friendly way. We cannot allow discredited New Labour Ministers like Milburn and Clarke to set the agenda. They won't anyway as no-one is listeni to their platitudes anymore.
anon 11:45 - why is Diane Abbott a hypocrite?
Anon 5:35,
I suspect that Anon 11:45 refers to Diane Abbott as a hypocrite notably due to frequent television appearences in which she seems to, quite frankly, have the time of her life together with one our chief political opponents, Michael Portillo. And, I must say, that in light of these, I completely agree with anon 11:45.
Furthermore, I genuinely feel, as do seemingly quite a number of readers of this Blog, that Abbott is rather uninspiring. However, I do not think that this is the appropriate time or place (or subject, for that matter) to discuss Abbott's personality flaws. She is, in general terms, a potential supporter of this campaign, as well as of the Labour Left, and should therefore be treated with respect.
For the sake of ensuring total Labour Left unity behind John - never mind Meacher's spoiler bid, it won't get anywhere anyhow - it is paramount to discuss issue in a comradely fashion, rather than giving in to petty personality squabble, which, far from being constructive, could actually alienate a number of potential supporters.
Mikael's hit the nail on the head! Why is Abbott cavorting with Tory boys Portillo and Andrew Neill when she should be helping us? And why doesn't she mention John's campaign when she's on the telly? I can't remeber one single occasion when she's done this, all she ever does is make favourable remarks about Gordon Brown.
But you're right, now is neither the time nor the place, however if she ends up backing Meacher or worse still Brown we should throw the book at her!
When I was in LPYS (Labour Party Young Socialists) in 1981 a gang of us went down to Brighton to hear the announcement re Tony Benn's deputy leadership bid.As most of you will be aware, he lost by a fraction of the vote to Denis Healey. Largely due to abstentions of some of his "comrades" in the Tribune group.Margaret Beckett, I well recall, called Kinnock a "Judas" and threw money into the auditorium at a Tribune rally.
We have not been in this leadership situation for a long long time.And the left is far weaker than it was then.So I would echo the previous speaker who said let's try, difficult though it is, to keep things comradely. No-one will be won over by tirades of abuse.And, if they happen to disagree, just take it on the chin and be nice.
This campaign is about policies, not personalities. Character assassination won't get us anywhere.The only way forward is to build support to the point where we cannot be ignored.
John on the front page of the Mirror:
'Would-be Labour leader John McDonnell warned: "This will further alienate millions of Labour's natural supporters."'
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/tm_headline=wage-rage&method=full&objectid=18695131&siteid=89520-name_page.html
Another excellent post from Susan; you are the voice of reason!
The news that the Probation Service has been privatised is a real blow; John and other left MPS such as Neil Gerrard have been campaigning against this for months and months along with NAPO and the justice unions generally in in case anyone dosen't know. There have been many fringe meetings on the topic at conferences such as Labour's annual conference and TUC etc. Fringe meetings are usually actually public meetings in that they are very often held outside the main compound of a conference so anyone can attend if they support the topic.
I'm not sure about the tag "would be" - is this good or bad??! but good that John's on the front page of The Mirror. Kevin Maguire their political correspondant has won political journalist of the year by the way. I didn't see the awards programme this year unfortunately so I don't know who else was in the running or what exactly the criteria was ;can anyone enlighten me??
I see Kevin doing analysis if the paper on Sky News occasionally. The front page article was actually written by Oonagh Blackman.
I hope the NHS Day of Action will be a breakthrough tomorrow as the cuts are really starting to bite now - if you are a non-emergency such as a broken arm and present at my local hospital Wycombe in the first instance as my neighbour just did or a susupected appendicitis such as a friend of a friend's son you then have to go to Stoke Mandeville which is 30 miles away along bad roads. They did see my son with a bump on the head and kept him overnight but it seems the A and E is a very much reduced service to give a local example and don't even think about getting to SM by public transport with a sick child. Lives could be lost as in the case of the poss appendicitis the mother decided to go home and wait and see tho I offered her the change for the car park (don't get me started on hospital parking charges as they should be abolished); pertrol etc but she didn't but if it had been four miles away in Wycombe she would have gone. The child is ok but had the appendix burst it could have been nasty or life threatening in fact. That's the poor service we get despite massive local opposition; John Reid declined to visit to sort it out and the cuts went through (of course) and the local Tory MP has been worse than useless as he allowed his councillors to vote for the cuts then had the gall to be instrumental in the pressure group against them; helped by the local press who are Tory biased and won't publish anything I write. That's how these cuts are going through a Tory-New Labour alliance and their best friend is public apathy and people thinking they can't do anything about is as it's all done by Shaping Health Services committees. So tomorrow we need to get out there and protest as the NHS privatisation and all the privatisation have become Tony Blair's poll tax.
By the way another member of my extended family who is a doctor keeps buying new ties as he is always writing on his when he can't find any paper. I expect he is overworked but I think it also shows that they are quite well paid now !!! (I'm sure he dosen't get 100,000 a year though as he would be too young to have been in long enough but I do think New Labour need to look again at salaries as there would appear to be a two tier workforce within the NHS as with much of the public sector as the clerical/medical secretary etc jobs and those at healthcare assistant level which would have been your junior or auxillary nurse in the old days pay so badly that many parents can't afford to take them even with a subsidised hospital nursery on site. And then the government has the cheek to give nursing staff a below inflation pay rise...
Yet according to The Daily Politics which is rather misguided as to what's really happening on the ground in many cases the unions will all still back Brown and Brown who according to them is "playing the long game" financially will be able to start in N0 10 from a low base so that peole will think that any miserly improvements he makes are wonderful! (Like the 75p on pensions that time??!)
The reason he has to be mean has been repeatd often on this website - because he has to pay the consultants some of who's junior staff are graduates fresh out of college being paid £30,000 or prob more to advise a systemn they know nothing about, they just say what their managers tell them adn what they learn at accountancy school; I know because some of my peers did this and they were so deparate to get a graduate job to start paying off their debts they will do anything and many don't consider whether the company is ethical or not.
The front page of the Daily Mirror - now that really is a media break-through.Yeay!
Anyway, I can only assume Diane Abbott reads these comments. She mentioned John's campaign last night and said that Andrew Neil (and others presumably) may be surprised by how many votes he gets if he gets on the ballot paper.
To repeat what others have said, the front page of the Mirror could be a media tipping-point.Millions will have read that quote from John and he's now being taken seriously for the first time by the mainstream media.Which can only be a good thing
Brown is also helping us by being so utterly anti-Labour.The last few days have been pretty cheering following last week's events.Glad to hear Dianne A being bit more supportive.....
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