LABOUR PARTY: The Way Forward To A Better Britain

Author: Prince Foday

The parliamentary election in the United Kingdom is scheduled for Thursday, 7^th May 2015.  This is the time for voters to be careful in selecting the parliamentarians and party of their choice. The election is about deciding between the party that cares highly for the poor and vulnerable members of society (The Labour Party) and the party that highly favours the rich (The Conservative Party). Under five years of Conservative government, the British society experienced large proportion of people living on food banks, many more people becoming homeless, many firms closing down due to weak circular flow of income between businesses and consumers, alarming “scape-goating” of immigrants, and the general designing and  implementation of policies hitting-hard the very voters or populace meant to serve. Yes, in a democratic society we have to be open to alternative parties and give a chance to them to take the stage of governance to prove their political packages. We have given the chance to the Tories-LibDem political package, but, it proved that their actions are only meant to create a hellish type of society through the widening of the poverty gap. We need to be alert to the truth that given the Conservatives another term will make the British society worse-off. The Labour Party is a great mother of British society and it is the party that our society needs. The Tories and other parties are using two issues to tarnish the good track record of the Labour Party, which is the issue of a national deficit (that is public expenses outweighing what is coming into the national coffers) and immigration (that is the number of people entering the country). Frankly, the use of national deficit and immigration against the Labour Party sound narrow-minded on the part of the Tories. It is clear that the national deficit is as a result of global economic problems or global economic ripple-effect. The Labour Party had to face the economic challenge through the recommendations of Professor M. Keynes, who proposed that in the face of unexpected economic challenges, like the national deficit, the deficit needs to be tackled tactical in a way that will not affect households. The Labour Party strongly took the recommendations of Professor Keynes by ensuring that the designing and implementations of their policies are within that direction. The very national deficit issue, one of Torie's campaign tool against the Labour Party, could not take a reasonable turn by the Tories; instead, they even ended borrowing more and heaping more suffering on the people. The Labour Party, due to their humanitarian flair and genuine intention for the British economy, took the model of immigration good for the society. We live in a global world and our relationship with other nations or international organisations are good for business and the people. The Labour party took the move to attract skilled and productive manpower whilst preparing to develop their manpower at home in order to meet the growing desire for goods and services. It is good to control immigration but using it to as a "scapegoat" for political gains is a cheap move and uncalled for. The global world is currently faced with economic inequalities; many nations are faced with instability due to bad governance and the emergence of terrorism, and the borders of nations are becoming daunting to secure. Developed nations, like Great Britain, have to face an on-going immigration encounter as long as the issues raised remain prevalent. I will recommend that the Tories or whosoever using the national deficit and immigration as a countervailing tool in politics to concentrate on lifting our people out of poverty and ensure a fairer society for all. There is a need to focus our political campaign towards the real issues affecting our society and the global world, as no one country can live as an island. Political campaigns should be tailor-made in such a way that is fit-for-purpose and stand the test of modern times.

The Author was former media coordinator of Greenwich and Woolwich Labour Party and ward organiser for Woolwich Common.