Why should the public take political advice from big business?
Business leaders came out last week in support for the Tories promise to lessen tax rises on National Insurance. This was no doubt a bitter pill for Labour to swallow, as they have courted the business community and been its favoured party ever since Tony Blair took control in 1994. But just how important was this ‘victory’ for the Tories? Yes, those who promise goodies and tax cuts before an election usually go on to win, but are the British public really looking to take political advice from rich and powerful business leaders?
Consider what the cost has been of listening to these people over the last two decades. The practice of neo-liberal politics has basically given them free rein and total control over the world’s markets, and has deregulated anything standing in their way. In the 21st Century, businesses have been given unprecedented power to grow as big and broad as they wish. The objective of our economic and social activity became limitless, endless, mindless accumulation of wealth in a profit-centred economy.
But aside from Cameron and Osborne’s promise that cutting the debt will be favoured over protecting jobs, there is a clear reason why these businessmen have spoken out against the government. According the figures released last week by the Institute of Fiscal Studies, the rich are £25,000 a year worse off whereas the poorest 10% of the UK population is £1,700 better in pocket since 1997. Clearly, if you a greedy member of the richer class, this redistribution of wealth isn’t going to please.
What is confusing though is why Labour politicians aren’t shouting these stats down any TV camera pointed their way – they almost seem embarrassed that they’ve helped the poor. Yet around 80% of the British public believe we are a too unequal society. Surely then, celebrating this change will help claw in votes from those who believe in social mobility and equal opportunities from birth for all.
Even though a significant number of voters believe that Cameron will be worse than Brown at handling the economy (look at Ireland for example – there they’ve implemented Cameron’s plan most enthusiastically and they have suffered one of the biggest collapses in productivity anywhere since WW2), the government are not making it easy for people to vote them in for a record fourth term. Rather than celebrating their ideological differences with the Tories, the government are basically saying: “Yes, we’re going to do all the stuff Tories are saying too, but we’ll just cut a bit less and do it a bit slower so that the pain isn’t quite so sharp”.
But where can these cuts be exactly? The British public realise that we are caught between a rock and a hard place – since Thatcher, the industrial base of this country has been gradually run down, and the only major area of growth following 1997 has been in the public sector. So clearly expenditure in public services must be trimmed – but then we all know that cuts in universities, hospitals or social welfare aren’t a good idea. So rather than explain where exactly cuts are needed and risk offending the electorate, the politicians are all quietly tip-toeing around the subject and really giving us very little information on what treatment is to follow May’s election.
This is why there is still everything to play for in this election. The vast majority of votes, on both the left and right, are soft. Only a few, except the die-hards and fundamentalists, have truly made up their minds, and there’s no telling what the rest of us will do when we’re left alone in private to put pen to paper.
Rob Dale is a videoblogger and interviewer extraordinaire. Check out his website, or follow him on Twitter (mr_robert_dale).
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Reply #1 on : Tue April 20, 2010, 23:48:47