Brown supports Mandelson on Europe

It seems that Gordon is keen to show his unifying side this week. According to the Sunday Times, Gordon’s going to launch a new document on Thursday, signed by 50 business men, urging for greater European unity on business.

image1.jpgWhat’s interesting about this, is not just that Brown is eurosceptic yet wants to promote greater EU integration on business issues, but the fact that the organisation launching the document is Business for New Europe, a group with close ties to Peter Mandelson (the group’s Chairman Roland Rudd is a close friend of Mandelson). It is, in fact, widely believed that this organisation was set up one year ago to counter the threat Mandelson was facing from the more right wing eurosceptic organisations.

Given Brown and Mandelson’s history and after a weekend in which Mandelson openly attacked Brown and urged Miliband to stand, its surprising Brown’s willing to support them. But I suppose, if the Indys to be believed, Mandelson’s “botched coup” has actually helped Brown’s campaign.

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Student loan deja vu

The FT is speculating that Gordon will privatise the student loan system in his budget next week. This will have the dual effects of raising some extra cash, which can be ploughed into education, and reducing national debt, thereby making the books look healthy.

This was exactly the policy William Hague was suggesting during the 2001 general election; in fact I think it was a manifesto commitment. Hague believed at the time he could get £1.3 billion from it.

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Taxing times for airlines

This morning on GMTV Gordon attacked the Tories airline tax plans saying:

“I am not going to penalise the holidaymaker and I am not going to penalise people who have got to travel for all sorts of reasons on domestic flights. I don’t think the Conservative proposals are properly costed or thought-out and I think people will be very angry about that.”

It’s interesting to note that Gordon relies heavily on domestic flights- last year he spent nearly £7k on flights. Gordon wouldn’t want that bill to rise…he might have to start getting the train.

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A Green Role Reversal

Liberal society is good at informing and educating people about the environment, but it struggles to create environmental consciousness. When people are asked about the environment, they show an understanding on the problem and a need to do something about it, yet are usually unwilling to give up their cars, turn off the lights to save energy or pay more taxes.

The task of winning the election creating an environmental conciousness is what faces our leaders. So what do they do?

Cameron calls for more tax and more Government targets. Brown, speaking at the Green Alliance today, calls for more investment in education and incentives. Both of them are also highly eurosceptic, yet agree the EU should lead on environmental issues.

Not only the reverse of what you might have expected at one time, but neither policy will really make the difference needed. They will not convince people to change their attitudes or begin to tackle Climate Change.

At least there’s one good thing about this, Brown didnt follow Miliband’s advice. Miliband wants to introduce personal carbon credits: a regressive, unjust and centrally planned idea, which would effectively establish quotas on what people can do. Carbon credits for businesses hasn’t worked yet, why would they work for individuals?! This is a certain vote loser if there ever was one.

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“Fully elected House of Lords” are the headlines, but will Gordon shelve the plan?

Was tonight a great night for democracy? Tonight’s Commons vote for a fully elected House of Lords certainly, on the face of it, looks like it (even though the vote will only inform government policy). But will Gordon shelve the plan? Can he afford to have his first few months in power dominated by the finer details of Constitutional reform? Benedict Brogan thinks not.

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Brown’s first policy pledge

If the rumours are to be believed, one of Brown’s first decisions as PM will be to get rid of the DTI, and give the Treasury monopolistic powers responsibility for business.  The DTI plans have been rumoured for a while.  What is new is the fact that ministers are talking about it openly.  But what will Brown’s other policies be?

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What ever happened to…

Matthew Parris today looks at some of Gordon’s mythical initiatives. Almost every week we hear about a new Brown initiative, policy or announcement (Brown seems to love awards and prizes). Yet, soon after the idea is floated, it disappears into the policy bin of ill thought out, badly planned ideas. Parris mentions Brown’s excellent idea of “midnight football” for badly behaved youngsters, which was quickly dropped.

British politics has become infatuated with small ideas which can, supposedly, be achieved quickly and cheaply (a few million is cheap in Government terms). Part of the reason for this is, of course, the pressures of the 24 hour news culture and the lack of big ideas. Under Brown and New Labour, good governance is about capturing good headlines rather than making Britain a better place.

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Brown spends more on websites

Was spending £75,000 on a website to initiate a debate on the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review, good value for money? Especially when it’s attracting 255 hits a day and comes at a time when the Government is getting rid of many of its websites to save money!

Government and IT just don’t work well together. I could have done a better job for £50.

Hat tip: Dizzy Thinks

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Forced voluntary service under Brown

So Brown wants all immigrants seeking British citizenship to conduct voluntary service. Isn’t this just another gimmicky proposal, pulled out of the political policy bag, produced to show that Brown has ideas and cares about what it means to be British, even though current citizens are not sure themselves?

Well, any “good” policy starts by identifying the problem. The problem here is that of integration: how to integrate new citizens into British society, especially those who may have different views of community and civic virtue.

But why do we need to take action? Clearly, such issues poll highly- many people are worried by the effects of immigrants on communities. Brown also hopes that policies on British citizenship will distance himself from his own Scottish identity, portraying him as a unifier of all the British people.

So the solution…..let’s force them to do voluntary work. Unfortunately, forced voluntary work has several negative overtones, associated with Community Service punishments and the link between voluntary service and benefits under the Welfare to Work scheme.

However, from what Brown said, it seems that voluntary service is only part of the new policy. For voluntary work on its own does not deal with the problem facing immigrant minorities. They face a problem of distributional justice, and new citizens need help to understand the rules of liberal society, learn new language skills and get a job. There is a danger that such voluntary work schemes may in fact further stigmatise minority groups who already feel marginalised, but it is a move in the right direction, which will help to promote a greater sense of Britishness, whatever that is.

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What are Brown’s “first 10 days” surprises?

So bad news for Brown in today’s Guardian poll. Michael White has a good political briefing today. He tells us that:

“Even old friends claim not to know what “first 10 days” surprises he has in store to rebrand Labour after 10 years in power, though they loyally insist that he has “the depth, the breadth, the ingenuity and the will to see it through”"

So what will Brown surprise us with in his first ten days?

If anyone else has any suggestions, answers on a postcard to the usual comments section please.

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