Ed Miliband the Thatcher of the left?

Ed Miliband the Thatcher of the left?

Margaret Thatcher, an idol of the right and a devil to those on the left.  Whether you loved or hated the Iron Lady you have to admit she dramatically altered the political, economic and social landscapes of the UK.  And if Ed Miliband is serious about his proposed economic policies and his plans to cut the cost of living if he wins in 2015 he could be potentially as revolutionary as Thatcher.  Ed Miliband is obviously totally different politically to Thatcher my comparisons between Miliband and the UK’s only female PM end at the fact he could be a shock to the UK.

Critics have already lined up to land blows against Ed for his proposed banking cap and his energy price freeze, and yes these critics have a point and I agree with them, however this does not mean Ed’s policies don’t appeal to voters.  It also does not mean his economic policies are incorrect, this current Conservative government’s economic policy was derided as poor last year by many leading economists right up until it started showing results and then it was good again.  The same goes for Thatcher’s economic policies, the point is most revolutionary economic policies are incorrect up until the moment they are correct.

Although I find Labour’s economic policies crazy in an economic sense, politically they are rather clever.  They show that Labour cares about the cost of living and is willing to do something drastic to combat it.  It also taps into public hatred of banks and most importantly that banks have not suffered enough for causing the financial crisis, Labour could have just came out and bashed the banks which would not be politically very clever.  Instead they have said the banks are too big, powerful and corrupt and to solve this we are going to make the market more competitive so the customers get a better deal.  Whether this will work in an economic sense is debatable, (I don’t think it will) however politically it’s savvy.  It attacks and enemy in the form of the big banks, but has a positive message in a better deal for British business and the British people.

The potential consequence of such policies on the UK economy would be colossal and as I have mentioned already I believe negative, but at least Labour has filled its policy void and is trying to solve the problems of voter.  However, the Conservatives have also finally got going on the cost of living crisis saying they will raise minimum wage, a very appealing prospect for a large section of voters.  It looks like 2015 is about to offer up a really exciting race to number 10, Labour are offering some quite revolutionary policies while the Conservatives are using more conventional economic policy to solve the UK’s problems.  Although I believe Labour ‘s policies would adversely affect the UK economy  the dividing lines between the main parties are the clearest they have been for years, and I think a Labour win could change Britain as much as a Conservative win did in 1979.