For Labour to be taken seriously they need credible policies

For Labour to be taken seriously they need credible policies

Since Thatcher’s death on Monday, the left has been split, between those who have remained silent and respectful and those yobs how have gone out to celebrate.  Thatcher managed to win 3 general elections and this was down to two main reasons, the first being she understood the majority of British people and the second being that Labour were so left wing their policies were laughable.  Although the Labour party currently lead in the polls, they may once again become the party of protest again if they don’t come up with some credible policies.

Today I read an interesting article about what Britain could have been like had Thatcher lost in 79, the conclusion was we would have been like Cuba without sunshine, and worse cars.  I am not saying this articles conclusion is accurate, but it illustrates how out of touch Labour became in the 80’s.  When a party is out of touch, they fail to produce policy that can win election, such as Labours old policy of nuclear disarmament.  In the 2000’s the Conservatives also suffered from out of touch syndrome, when the vast majority of people cared about greater public sector investment the Conservatives wanted tax cuts which would have reduced investment in our public sector.  They also put too great an emphasis on the anti EU policies which most people cared very little about.  

The modern day Labour party is falling into the same traps as the 1980’s Labour party and the 2000’s Conservative party.  Their policy to tackle the deficit is currently to protest about everything the coalition is doing and offer no alternative.  Labour are currently only in the lead due to anger about the cuts but come 2015 if they have no alternative they will struggle.  Another problem with Labour is they are focusing in on things people don’t really care about, like the fact most Conservative front benchers are millionaires.  This attack is ineffective mainly because when was the last time the majority of a governing party front bench was not made up of rather rich people, plus the Labour front bench is not exactly earning minimum wage.  The other problem with Labour is that they continually focus in on the cut to the top rate of tax, they forget it is still higher than it was for the majority of the time Labour was in government, plus the raise of the tax allowance is giving everyone else a massive tax cut.  Both these things can be used to attack Labour with at the next election.  To conclude the point I am trying to make is that if Labour fail to come out with some credible policy and continue being the party of protest, they will not win the next election.