Jim Hancock

FREE DEBATE AT LABOUR CONFERENCE?

30 YEARS AGO……

Exactly thirty years ago Neil Kinnock launched his famous attack on Liverpool’s Militant Tendency at the party conference. His reference to taxis being hired by a Labour council to take redundancy notices to the city’s council staff has become legendary or infamous depending on your point of view. The speech marked the beginning of a necessary purge of Trotskyist infiltration. It also marked the last time the Labour conference was a showcase for disunity.

For over a decade the Labour conference had laid bare its divisions for the TV audience to see. That had to be stopped. However over the years, and particularly after Tony Blair’s public relations team took over in 1994, all dissent was marginalised. Real debate was discouraged and policy was formed in the National Policy Forum which was firmly in the grip of the leadership. It was an overreaction to the mayhem of 1975-85.

So what’s going to happen this weekend now that the party is lead by Jeremy Corbyn, the arch dissenter. He wants real debate in a democratically run party. Let’s hope we get it. The public might respond well. They seem to have liked his style at Prime Minister’s Questions. On the other hand a demonstration of total policy incoherence might turn them away. That was what worried the party managers under Kinnock, Blair, Brown and Ed Miliband.

I am certainly looking forward to my second visit to the south coast to see the rebel of thirty years standing now in charge. Some are speculating this will be his only conference as leader, but I wouldn’t be so sure. Over the next few months leading up to important elections next May, Corbyn has the ability to rally different sections of the electorate to his new way of doing politics. There are many Scots who deserted the party out of frustration with austerity rather than any desire for independence. If they come back in numbers in the Scottish Parliament elections, Corbyn’s critics will be muted. Then there are Green supporters impressed by his environmental policies and general radicalism. But the largest group of all are the young, the poor, people disillusioned with politics or who have never engaged. Some were mobilised by the Corbyn campaign. Will they stay around? Will others join them? Will they watch the coverage of a party conference for the first time?

LIB DEMS AND CORBYN.

Whilst Scots, Greens and radicals might rally to Corbyn, the Liberal Democrats were hoping this week that they could occupy, what they saw as, the huge gap opening up in the middle of politics. Although at one fringe meeting after another I heard speakers saying they weren’t in the centre, they were Liberals they nevertheless believe the Tories have swung right because they are no longer in Coalition with them. With Corbyn off to the left, they see an opportunity. What they must avoid is opening the door too easily to defecting Labour MPs. They mostly won’t be true Liberals, just careerists trying to save their seats.

If Labour’s conference in Brighton is going to return to real debate, it is only fair to point out that the Lib Dems have always maintained that tradition. The debate last Monday on the Trident nuclear weapons system was open and excellent.

Perhaps the Conservatives will try it in Manchester next month but don’t hold your breath.

CORBYN: LIB DEM OPPORTUNITY?

FARRON’S LONG JOURNEY

When I planned my visit this weekend to the Lib Dem’s conference in Bournemouth, it was to see how a party goes from government to irrelevance in one short year. Last autumn in Glasgow the Deputy Prime Minister and members of the Cabinet were present. This year you will be lucky to spot one of the eight MPs amongst the diminished group of activists who will huddle in a hall now far too big for their needs.

It will be a long way back for the Lib Dems but they may have been given a boost by the election of Jeremy Corbyn. The new Lib Dem leader, Tim Farron, is claiming he’s had lots of Labour MPs ringing him up dismayed by the first week of Corbynism. This may be pre conference nonsense and I’m not convinced the despair of right wing Labour MPs is so great that they would leave the sinking ship of Labour (as they presumably see it) to get into the waterlogged rowing boat that is the Lib Dems. Comparisons have been made with the position of Labour moderates after Michael Foot’s election in 1981. Then there were former Cabinet Ministers like Roy Jenkins, Shirley Williams and David Owen who had enough stature to form the Social Democrats. It is difficult to see who would lead such a defection now except David Miliband and he is over the water, for now.

Anyway the Lib Dems don’t really need defecting MPs, what they need are voters who don’t want to go down Corbyn’s socialist road but prefer the left of centre position of Tim Farron. He was elected as the more radical of the two Lib Dem leadership candidates and unlike his opponent Norman Lamb had not been tainted by serving alongside Tories in the Coalition government.

In his keynote speech next week, I expect Farron to say he is the fresh leader and distance himself from the Tory led Coalition that nearly finished his party off. He might even pledge never to do a deal with them again. In these circumstances his party might start the long road back a little sooner flushed with the support of some ex Labour voters.

JEREMY’S FIRST WEEK.

Not that Corbyn’s first week has been as bad as the

The Tory press would lead you to believe. Prime Minister’s Questions was a refreshing change. David Cameron toned down the Bullingdon Club rhetoric and some ordinary people got their questions answered.

On the issue of Corbyn not singing the National Anthem at the Battle of Britain service, those pilots died to defend freedom of expression. Corbyn is a republican and doesn’t want the Queen to reign over him. So why should he sing it and be called a hypocrite by the Daily Mail, a paper which ran headlines supporting Mosley’s fascists in the thirties?

I think the Spitfire pilots would have been happy with him standing in dignified silence.

UNION CHALLENGE FOR NEW LABOUR LEADER.

“You don’t get me, I’m part of the union.”

On Monday the government will introduce in parliament the biggest crack down on the trade unions in thirty years. Len McCluskey’s Unite union is up for the challenge. The General Secretary will spend the weekend at the Trades Union Congress testing support for his call to break the law to resist the Tories plans.

The issue will be an interesting test for the new Labour leader. To support or oppose particular strikes has been one of the most difficult problems for Labour leaders for decades. Barbara Castle crossed the unions in the 1960s, Jim Callaghan’s government was brought down by them in 1979, Neil Kinnock’s discomfort over Arthur Scargill’s miners strike in 1984/5 is the stuff of legend and Ed Miliband’s refusal to take sides became a joke on You Tube.

The reason why the party, created by the unions, has agonised over the issue of union power is because it has feared losing moderate voters. It is this equivocation that has dismayed the left, and particularly the young. During the leadership election they have surged back to Labour in the expectation of more crusading policies. Their argument is that if the party fights with conviction for working people, more will join, Middle England will be overwhelmed and a socialist Labour Party will sweep to power in 2020. The battle over the Trade Union bill will be a first test.

The measure will make unlawful a strike unless 50% of those being asked to strike, vote in the ballot. 40% of those asked to vote must support the strike in key public services. The strike mandate will only last four months Unlawful picketing will become a criminal, not civil, offence. Most controversial of all is the right being given to employers to hire agency staff to break the strike. The Labour Party’s finances are set to be hit with a further provision to require union members to positively agree to pay the political levy.

The number of working days lost to strike action in the 12 months to April was 704,000, a far cry from the 13 million a year in the 70s. However there have been a number of strikes on the London Underground and in schools causing major inconvenience to parents and commuters. This has been the trigger for ministers to act. What will New Old Labour do?

SOCCEREX CONFERENCE.

I attended the excellent global soccer business conference in Manchester this week and thought I would share with you a comment by a panellist. It came during a discussion about fans’ use of new media. Facebook and YouTube had come out of left field with nobody seeing what impact they would have It was noted that some football clubs had given up trying to stop fans taking mobile phone shots of matches and embraced the clips on their websites.

Then the prediction of the next big thing, fans resistance to being the falls guys in the war between Sky and BT for TV soccer rights. As was correctly observed the poor fan now has to pay two huge monthly fees to get full match coverage. Who could stop this? Well perhaps Apple will come to the fans rescue, wipe out BT and Sky and unify the package at a cheaper price. Just a thought.

FRANTIC FOOTBALL AND DEVOLUTION DEADLINES.

REAL POWER OR A CONFUSING MESS?

This week the deadline passed for northern councils to submit their bids for devolved power. Will this herald the real start for a coherent, democratically run, Northern Powerhouse or a mishmash of devolved functions confusing to business and voters alike?

Government policy faces two ways on this issue. On the one hand they want requests for devolution to come from our city and county regions, allowing for a varied pattern to suit the area concerned. This is in the belief that one size doesn’t fit all. On the other hand ministers are very firm in their belief that elected mayors are a condition for real “Manchester” style devolution.

As deadline day approached there were frantic moves across the North to get bids in. In some areas it mirrored football’s transfer deadline day. But before surveying the complicated picture from Merseyside to Leeds, let’s remind ourselves what this is all about and whether it matters to business.

Conservatives in the previous Coalition government were determined to dismantle the structure of regional power put in place by Labour. They believed that city regions provided the real engines for growth working alongside business driven Local Enterprise Partnerships. Many Labour city leaders agreed with them, particularly Sir Richard Leese, the leader of Manchester Council. He formed a powerful alliance with the Chancellor George Osborne in launching the concept of the Northern Powerhouse to link major cities like Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool together.

Greater Manchester struck a deal before the election to get widespread economic, housing and health powers. In return they reluctantly accepted an elected mayor. Former MP Tony Lloyd is filling that role on an interim basis.

Other cities in the North were much more reluctant to accept an elected mayor and perhaps hung back awaiting the outcome of the General Election. Now with a fully Conservative administration and a new Local Government Secretary, the choice has been simplified It’s Greg Clarke’s way or the highway.

The sort of powers that might be devolved are important for business. The skills gap, poor transport links, planning, and access to finance are some of the issues firms are concerned about and being able to influence policy locally rather than traipsing down to Whitehall must be good.

So as the deadline passes, what is the picture in the North? In Greater Manchester the deal is done whilst on Merseyside things remain complex. The bid, which is also a response to the general Spending Review, has been described as “a work in progress” by officials. Veteran Liverpool Lib Dem councillor Richard Kemp prefers “last minute” which he regards as the wrong approach when control of £4.5bn of expenditure is involved. The problem on Merseyside has been the difficult relationship between the leader of the City Region, Cllr Phil Davies of Wirral and the elected mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson. The latter believes in an elected mayor for the sub region whereas other councils in the sub region see it as a recipe for a Liverpool takeover.

To the south Warrington and Cheshire Local Enterprise Partnership is putting in its own bid for devolved powers, not wishing to be overshadowed by the city based Northern Powerhouse.

Similar sentiments prevailed in Lancashire last week at a Downtown sponsored event. The county’s leader Jennifer Mein pointed out they had the third largest economy in the North. Business wants a united bid for power but once again there are local sensitivities as Lancashire has to deal with Blackburn and Blackpool unitary authorities as well as 12 district councils.

In Yorkshire there has been a lively debate around three proposals. Some argue that the Yorkshire brand is known around the world and so the devolution deal should be county wide. Geoff Boycott for elected mayor anyone? Leeds remains convinced that a city region based solution is best involving some of the surrounding towns. Meanwhile a third group would like to contain Leeds and go for a North and East Yorkshire sub region.

This process across the North has lacked real input from the people and it will be down to Communities Secretary Greg Clarke to hand down decisions from the centre once again.

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