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Monday 16 April 2012

President Obama takes on the 'radical' Tory party

It is election year in America and the battle lines have been drawn with both the Republicans and Democrats unveiling significantly different budget plans in recent months.

One of the most significant differences between President Obama and Mitt Romney's plans are how they would tax the wealthy:

Source: The Atlantic 

There are striking similarities between Labour & the Democrats and the Tory Party & the Republicans' positions in regards to the amount of tax that the most wealthy should pay. Strangely, despite the fact that the Democrats are very much a centre-right party while Labour are supposed to be centre-left, it is the former who have embraced a Keynesian stimulus and ensured that their economy's growth did not flat-line.

While Ed Miliband's interview on The Andrew Marr Show this Sunday was mostly impressive, it was disappointing to see Ed shirk away from embracing the idea of a Keynesian stimulus and instead positioning the Labour Party as the party who would embrace a less drastic version of a deficit reduction plan. What he fails to recognise is that if his party do not offer a significantly different platform to the Conservatives they are not only in danger of losing another election, but they could see a repeat of George Galloway's victory in Bradford, which saw a remarkable swing of 36.59% from Labour to the Respect party.

Quite why Labour HQ thinks that the Tory party have any economic credibility when George Osborne's economic policies have seen growth flat-line and unemployment soar is beyond me.

One can only hope they are watching the U.S. election season as closely as the rest of us are and listened to President Obama criticise Paul Ryan's proposal for the Republican Budget. The President described Ryan's proposal as:

“Disguised as deficit reduction plans, it is really an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country.”
Could President Obama's words not apply equally to the Coalition's agenda since they took office? Surely this is the line of attack that Labour should be taking instead of merely describing the Tories as 'out of touch' and then stating that Labour represents 'fairness'.

The Tory Party have exploited the financial crisis to impose a radical agenda on our country which has trebled tuition fees, put the NHS on the path towards privatisation, closed crucial public facilities while cutting the income tax of the wealthiest as well as significantly increasing the chances of Britain experiencing a lost decade similar to the one Japan experienced in the Nineties.

The Coalition and the Tory Party have experienced their worst few weeks of coverage since they came to power. Ed Miliband, whose post-Budget speech was a career highlight that signalled Labour would be unafraid of both taking the initiative and ruthlessly calling out the Tories on their many hypocrisies, should be emboldened by the growing unpopularity of the Tory party and embrace an economic plan that would bring real prosperity to Britain while increasing his party's chances of returning to power.

He should take heed of the aforementioned words of President Obama and call out the Tory Party's policies for what they are: an attempt to dismantle the welfare state in order to line the pockets of their party's wealthiest donors.




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