Stop the intransigence; the UK government must help in the migrant crisis

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.

Matthew 25: 35-36

The image of the poor boy that drowned in Turkey should be a massive wakeup call, if the horrible events prior weren’t sobering enough. I, like many others, find it incomprehensible that our nation can stand by on the side lines and watch. This isn’t because of any lack of willpower and compassion from the British people, but rather the intransigence of the UK Government. In leading a drive for people to donate basic supplies that will be taken to Calais, my friend Rebecca Goodall in Ashbourne helps to exemplify the compassionate attitude towards the migrant crisis, an attitude shared by so many who are frustrated at our relative isolation in helping. Germany has allowed for 800,000 refugees to find shelter there, yet Yvette Cooper’s figure of 10,000 seems too far for David Cameron and company. 

This isn’t a debate over old immigrant stereotypes. It’s a call for a humanitarian intervention. The political spectrum is irrelevant in this. Most people know the parable of the Good Samaritan, but it’s still of vital importance for knowing about how we should treat one another, and how we should fight for basic human dignity. We can all be selfish in our daily lives, but it is human instinct to feel repulsed and upset at the current situation; we don’t want to walk on by. Our intuitions call for us to help and to want others to help, and old instructions still apply:

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy

Proverbs 31: 8-9

I don’t intend this blog entry to be a vitriolic attack on David Cameron and the Conservatives. It’s a call for them to act. We can still play our part as a country, as so many already are. People need to join together, those with faith and those with none, and help those who are suffering. It’s a very easy choice for the UK Government; fight for decency and justice.


Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.

Matthew 25:40

What vision does the Centre-Left have for the 21st Century?

There can be countless seminars, focus groups, reports and intellectual discussions on how the Left can ‘win again’, but they are futile if they don’t come up with a coherent answer. Discussions of this sort can be fascinating, and I do miss the tutorials I had for a politics module I took at University (an ‘outside’ option from my degree in English Language). However, such discussions and potential solutions need to translate to the electorate. I’m more than happy to talk political ideologies and philosophies, but the man/woman on the street has every right to say “who cares about that?” The question I pose is therefore a difficult one.

Doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results, is the madness cliché which does ring true for political theory. How can Jeremy Corbyn’s 1980s Labour model possibly ‘get it right this time’? The Hague/Duncan Smith/Howard experiment didn’t work for the Tories, hence the so called ‘compassionate Conservatism’ agenda of David Cameron. Left wing populism has its attractions, but even if there is a brief electoral reward it often comes back to bite you; look at Alexis Tspiras and Syriza, or Francois Hollande in France. The original doomsday prediction was that whoever was set to win the 2010 UK General Election would be out of power for a generation thereafter, due to the unpopular measures that would need to be taken; the fact that the Conservatives still won in 2015 should have the Left seriously concerned. Now is not the time for Michael Foot redux.

I don’t profess to have the answer, merely my own suggestions and predictions, although I am very confident that a Corbyn-led Labour Party would be doomed in 2020. There needs to be a coherent and structured approach. The Centre-Left should provide aims for the next ten, fifteen and twenty years, not just for 2020. The balance needs to be right. Let’s not have broad slogans like “we’re for the common good, for fairness etc” without specific policies, nor can there be minutiae in policy documents. The first port of call for dealing with inequality and unemployment can no longer be to simply increase spending and taxes. The Centre-Left needs to show how money is spent, which is why looking at how spending in the early years is vital. Show centrists and people who lean right that you are pro-tax cutting, but tax cutting progressively (low and middle incomes). People need to trust you on running the nation’s finances, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t be radical. By radical, show that you’d cut down on waste and bloated spending in all areas, meaning that you’d clamp down on subsidies for the rich as much as you’d trim welfare. On the latter point, show that you’re for people in work, but mean it. I mean this in a progressive sense; the whole “make work pay” mantra has to have meaning, so don’t take the Tory approach and hurt those who are working but at the lower income scale. Trump the Conservatives on taking “difficult decisions”. Financial behemoths like Trident shouldn’t be exempt (whether that means scaling down or abolishing, but that’s another topic), and strive for more ambitious debt elimination targets.

There’s a twofold challenge for the Centre-Left: How do you put forward a positive and progressive message when deficits need to be dealt with, and what vision will you fight for once the deficit has been cleared? The composition is what truly counts. It’s great to say that you’re against inequality, that you’re pro-fairness and that you want to strive to reduce unemployment, but who honestly wouldn’t say these things? The solutions can’t be based on old ideas, and the spin from the Right means that conservatives can try and claim the ‘compassionate’ mantle even if it’s not justified. Stereotypes need to be shed (e.g. tax and spend); the Centre-Left needs to convince people that it’s more competent in areas that people would assume (think economics), whilst having new ideas for dealing in areas where it apparently has a monopoly (fighting for the underdog, ‘fairness’).

Assumptions need to be challenged and (if applicable) addressed. The Centre-Left does not have a monopoly electorally or idealistically. Leave the self-indulgent seminars and textbooks. It’s time to get out there and talk to everyday people, and to be bold and pragmatic.