LABOUR REPRESENTATION COMMITTEE
Chair: John McDonnell MP
Vice Chairs: Maria Exall, Christine Shawcroft
Secretary: Simeon Andrews
Treasurer: Graham Bash

Chancellor Signals New Neo-Con Economy

In his speech today to the CBI, Gordon Brown has dashed the hopes of thousands of Labour Party supporters. Foreshadowing his pre-budget statement, the Chancellor has called for a new neo-con transatlantic alliance based on ‘entrepreneurial flair’ and the free market.

John McDonnell MP, Chair of the Labour Representation Committee, said:

“This is not the leadership expected of Labour on these key issues. The Chancellor appears to have no appreciation of the realities of life for millions of pensioners and workers struggling to maintain a dignified existence.

The Chancellor has clearly indicated that he intends to take Britain back into the darkest days of monetarism where public expenditure is seen as destructive to the whole economy, while free market profiteering appears to be encouraged.

Far from pandering to the free market and looking to remould the British Economy on an American neo-con model what we need is a commitment to public services and those who work in them to meet the needs of our communities.

The Pensions crisis we face is not about an insupportable financial burden on the economy. It is about too many retired people living in poverty. What we need is a radical pensions policy which restates the primacy of the basic state pension, offers a significant increase in the basic rate, and fully restores the earning link.

We would fare better if we spent less time on stressing our financial rectitude to big business and more on redistributing wealth to those who are in desperate need of our support.”

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