Why Labour Are Leaking Votes?

Why Labour Are Leaking Votes?

Yesterday’s Opinium/Observer poll made unpleasant reading for Labour, as their lead over the Conservatives has slipped to only 1 point.  This is down from a 10 point lead after George Osborne’s infamous "omnishambles" budget, how have Labour managed to lose such a substantial lead against a coalition that is making tough and unpopular decisions every day? The answer is obvious to most people, Labour has a leadership problem.

The only thing worse than a divided party is an indecisive one.  A party that is indecisive is a party that is not yet ready to govern and voters can sense this, and Labour are both indecisive and divided.  They are a little like a rudderless boat, 2015 is an election Labour should win everything is in their favour, living standards are down from 2010, many people are not yet feeling the advantages of the economic recovery and the cost of living keeps on rising.  Yet for Labour can’t take advantage of these factors and that is down to one man, Ed Miliband.  Ed seems torn on what to do over the Economy, should he make cuts or not make cuts and this is making him look weak.  After a long period of opposing Tory cuts the Labour party now seems to accept that cuts are necessary, but after such a long period of opposition to government cuts particularly from Ed Balls people are now unsure what Labour’s economic plan actually is.  This is only made worse by backbench MPs not going along with Miliband’s plan to cut government spending in a fairer way.

Miliband is not at the mercy of his party, there is still plenty he can do and he is probably about to do it.  Firstly he needs to start making his party’s positions on key issues like Europe and the Economy clear, and then he needs the right people in the Shadow Cabinet the big name that comes to mind is Alistair Darling.  As the Chancellor who guided the country through the financial crash he is a serious heavyweight and what he says about the Economy has clout, if Labour intends to make spending cuts if they get into office Alistair Darling is the man to present the cuts.  He intended to make cuts after 2010 which makes him a more credible Shadow Chancellor than Ed Balls who has spent most his time moaning about Tory cuts without offering any clear alternative.  If Labour want to restore their lead in the polls and win in 2015 they need to start being clear on what they intend to do in office and get the right people in the right Shadow cabinet jobs.  But at the moment Ed Miliband may manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. 

How to solve a problem like Nigel Farage?

How to solve a problem like Nigel Farage?

Nigel Farage is currently the golden boy of British politics, it is impossible to pick up a paper or turn on the news without seeing Nigel Farage.  And since his debating victory against Nick Clegg he has only become more popular, it is fair to say Nigel Farage is defiantly helping UKIP in the polls. He has a natural affinity with working people and those who feel the political class ignores them, but for some reason rather than taking a page from his book the main party leaders take swipes at the UKIP leader every time they get a chance and so far all this has led to is the increasing popularity of UKIP and Nigel Farage.

UKIP have hit a rich seam of British anger and it is not just over Europe it is the general high handedness of the political class.  People are fed up of spin, fed up of the party line and fed up of they did this they did that politics.   Both Labour and the Conservatives need to look at how UKIP is playing politics and start doing something similar, UKIP does not have a big media machine like the main parties but its popularity still is rising.  And the rise of UKIP actually confirms what many people believe about the political class today, UKIP were ignored then they got more popular and they were ridiculed by the main parties but still they got more and more popular. This show what people think about the main parties, your either too small to matter and when your opinion gains some traction if it does not fit the political centre ground the main parties try to discredit it, as the last Labour government did on immigration.  UKIP keeps getting more popular because it is not a main Westminster party, they are an old style political party, they are not all polished and shiny but rough and ready, Farage goes to pubs and drinks British beer, he sounds and looks like a man who would stick up for Britain.  While David Cameron seems to be largely hot air when it comes to dealing with Europe and Ed Miliband is struggling to lead his own party never mind the country

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But how do the main parties get some of UKIP’s success?  I think it’s simple, they need to listen to Nigel, he is in touch with the politically disenchanted and those who vote but who are sick of both Labour and the Conservatives.  It is not hard to see what these voters want they want to be taxed less they want to be able to afford a beer in the pub and they want a job.  These are all things the Conservatives should be doing anyway, it is not the market that is causing prices of beer to rocket it is tax and policies such as a 1p cut to beer duty actually means nothing in practice.  The main parties have to acknowledge that immigration can be bad for some groups in society and do something to protect these people from immigrations more damaging effects.  Such as enforcing the minimum wage, and as other European countries do removing people if they come here and don’t work for a long period of time.  Set up proper apprentice schemes like Germany has and give people the hope of a career if they go into more practical education.   

UKIP is just offering people what they have been moaning about for a long time now, and the only reason they are not more popular is that they are new and are seen as a little unsafe, a little sexist and a little racist.  The Conservatives and Labour should be using this perception not to attack UKIP but to take some of their more popular policies and watch voters start to reconsider voting UKIP.  However this may already be too late, the main parties have spent to long attacking UKIP and failing to listen to them, yes the Conservatives are offering a referendum on Europe but there is now more to UKIP than just Europe.  If UKIP continues to be ignored then they could be a force that’s here to stay and in the long run that should give Labour sleepless nights rather than the Conservatives.  

It is time to defend the smoker

It is time to defend the smoker

Smoking in the UK has become one of the most frowned upon habits imaginable, while other vices such as drinking and gambling have largely been left alone smoking has taken a real battering by the nanny state.  Not long ago you could smoke just about anywhere,in  the pub, at work, the airport even restaurants, but this is now a bygone age for smoking.  Smokers now have to stand outside in the cold and wet and this has massively damaged the good old fashioned British pub with thousands closing since the smoking ban.

 

Many will support actions like banning smoking indoors in public areas and to an extent this is a logical thing to do, everyone knows the damage of second hand smoke and even the most Liberal person must accept that in a confined space their cigarette smoke is harming the non-smokers around them hence encroaching on their rights not to smoke. But other developed western countries have not been as harsh on their smokers as the UK, some German pubs have smoking rooms and you can smoke in private functions, why does the UK have such draconian laws when it comes to smoking?  After all the industry brings in around £12 billion in excise duty and £2.6 billion in VAT a year and approximately 70,000 people are employed in tobacco related jobs.  Yes smoking is bad for you there is no denying this but it is not the states job to kill off a legal product through high taxation and absurd laws, taxes on tobacco in the UK are bordering on the insane.  Such high taxes on tobacco are counterproductive and are losing the treasury billions of pounds due to tobacco smuggling and cross boarder shopping, in 2012/13 the Treasury estimated that 16% of cigarettes and 48% of hand rolled tobacco had not paid UK duty.  Just to show a comparison of how high UK tobacco taxes are 20 premium cigarettes in the UK cost £7.89 which is the highest in the EU by some way only Ireland and the UK charge over £6 for 20 cigarettes.  Lithuania has the cheapest cigarettes in the EU with a pack of 20 only costing £2.30, and in Germany, Denmark, Italy, Spain, and Belgium you can get 20 cigarettes for under £5. In fact the tax on UK cigarettes is so high that the price of 20 cigarettes in any other European country excluding Ireland is less than the amount of tax paid on 20 cigarettes in the UK, for every 20 cigarettes a person buys they pay £6.17 in tax which is astronomical. Combine the price of tobacco with the high price of beer in pubs and you can see why hard working people are struggling to make ends meet.

The bashing of the tobacco industry and people who smoke by the state has got so bad now that it looks like it may become illegal to smoke in your own car if a child is present, that includes your own child, why not just open the windows to ventilate the car.  However it is still fine to feed the same child fast food, processed food, fizzy drinks and even alcohol if they are above 5 and in private premises.  There are also plans for plain packaging for cigarettes even though this has been shown to have no effect on peoples smoking habits in Australia and it has increased tobacco smuggling.   Both main parties show no sign of providing smokers any relief in regards to VAT which is quite interesting, as both Alcohol and gambling received some form of tax relief in the Chancellors latest budget and although Alcohol may cause less deaths than tobacco it still has serious social effects such as 28% of homeless people in the UK are homeless due to alcoholism. 

Although not all smoking legislation is unnecessary such as banning smoking in indoor public areas, the government is getting far too involved in smoking.  We are supposed to live in a Liberal Democracy in which the state protects the freedom of the individual, it is not supposed to prevent people from using a legal product through draconian laws.  There is no doubt that cigarettes and other tobacco products are bad for you, but so are hundreds of other products which don’t get nearly as much attention for the government.  My argument is not that tobacco is a good thing but that a government in a Liberal society should not be infringing a person’s rights to smoke, with laws such as no advertising, plain packaging and the total ban on all indoor smoking (for example what is wrong with a smoking room in a pub).  Even if you don’t smoke this topic should interest you, because once the state has practically outlawed smoking, then it will be drinking, fatty foods or even violent video games and TV programs.