Mark's Blog

I admit like many on the left I was rather disappointed by the previous labour administration on many fronts, I didn’t find there agenda to be very radical and it amounted to little more than more of the same. After nearly 20 years of tory rule we had a labour government that came in and didn’t at first make a big splash. However I think to truly judge how much the previous labour government actually delivered we only have to look around us. We live in a country that has undergone massive regeneration during the last labour administration. New hospitals, schools and serious improvements in the delivery of essential public services such as the NHS. I remember vividly during the tory years local news reports of some poor soul who had been in extreme pain for years on some occasions before being seen by a doctor. However labour made some serious mistakes there was a general erosion of civil liberties and being dragged into a war in Iraq and Afghanistan which might have been justified but the planning and general execution of both campaigns seems to have been rather poor. Its a real shame that it has taken a tory led government to abolish the ID card scheme an expensive waste of precious government money.

I was really disappointed that the previous labour administration weren’t more radically left wing. No freeing up of the draconian anti union laws drawn up. No real talk of renationalising the utility companies or public transport system, which have gotten worse and a lot more expensive in private ownership, in spite of all the tory double talk about efficiency savings and competition driving service levels up and prices down.

Now after all this you probably have a good idea that I am firmly of the left, which I unashamedly am. I see the links between everyone in society and know that its in the best interests of us all when we have a government and services which meet the needs of everyone especially those who are most disadvantaged. This is why I was so unhappy that we have now been con demned by the liberal democrats who seem to have spat in the faces of all those that supported the manifesto that the liberal democrats were elected to bring forward. I see the coalition agreement seems to broadly follow the tory manifesto but seems a long way away from what the people that voted liberal democrat actually voted for. It seems we truly are back to the hack and slash and screw the poor and disadvantaged of the Thatcher years, admittedly with better PR and a veneer of respectability bought in by the liberal democrat sell outs.

Whilst Dianne Abbot is the labour leadership candidate I would naturally support the most, it has to be about more than me it has to be about getting rid of the current condem coalition, and for that we need labour to win. For that we need a party that appeals to a broad range of people, and for me that means supporting David Miliband. Whilst he is not not radically left wing enough for me, he would never get elected if he was and its far better to get some of what you want a fairer government for all than to stick with the left and whinge about how the tories are wrecking our essential public services.