Thirteen Years To Get It Right

The general election looms ever closer, with this week holding the release of all the political parties’ manifestos. Yesterday, with a firm stance of preaching "a future fair for all", Gordon Brown released the Labour Party’s very detailed outlined manifesto, ready to implement if voted back in on May 6th. But is this plan of reform of the state and Parliament too late to convince voters to keep Labour in power, after already having 13 years in Downing Street?

‘Detailed’ is certainly the word which must be emphasised, to which Brown has laid down as evidence firmly stating that their manifesto is not full of the Conservatives', "empty slogans without change". He pledged, in his speech in Edgbaston, Birmingham, that Labour offered a, "realistic and radical plan for Britain".

Unsurprisingly, Labour has no big spending promises, acknowledging the tough economic climate. Instead, Brown offers to secure recovery first and foremost, claiming that Conservative policy, who aims for cuts to take place this year, will severely damage the economy and send us back into recession. Alongside this, is the promise of not to raise any of the rates on income tax - this policy, however, was broken from the previous election back in 2005, promising exactly the same.

What is also interesting is how Labour is calling for a reform to create a democratic House of Lords, and to ‘clean up politics’ in the aftermath of the expenses scandal, with Brown stating to replace, "discredited and distrusted politics with one where you, the people, are the boss". All well and good - but Labour have been in power for 13 years. They have had 13 years in Government to ‘clean up politics’. 13 years to which long term reform could have taken place by now. Yet, it is only after such an event, as was the expenses scandal, that Labour look to do anything about it. The Liberal Democrats have been calling for this exact sort of reform for years, and you can bet that if this scandal had not been reported, life in Government would have continued exactly the same. Nick Clegg, Liberal Democrat leader, responded to the manifesto with, "They are doing it again. If they haven't managed to do it in 13 years, why would anyone believe they are going to do it this time?" 13 years is more than long enough to have had the chance to ‘clean up politics’.

Labour also promise a new industrial revolution, creating more skilled jobs, with the ‘People’s Party’ looking to win on the back of the ‘middle-class’. Funnily enough, Brown stated he wanted to create a, "bigger middle class than ever before". Other plans include under-performing schools, hospitals and police forces to be taken over by more successful organisations.

But with what is clear to see is that Labour has struggled to advertise this manifesto with one big idea. Instead it is full of micro-measures, where it states tough choices are needed to confront the deficit, but ironically does not give the necessary outlines for cuts, which everyone agrees are required.