SIMON EMMETT . net

Last night Labour finally revealed their campaign slogan for the forthcoming election, “A Future Fair For All”. For me, and a large proportion of the blogsphere this was a “spit you tea out laughing” moment. That is because the slogan itself is an admission of failure.

How? I can already hear some Labour supporters thinking. Well, why is there no mention of their record over the last 13 years? Besides the statistics don’t exactly match the claim of being “fair for all”, as inequality, the rich/poor divide, and NHS postcode lotteries, have all RISEN under Labour. How would that be fair in the future?

Then there are the election themes that Labour are concentrating on. When you look at the subtext of these they all sound as though they are coming from an opposition party fighting a poor government’s record.

“Securing the recovery” – In others words the government is going to “do nothing” (remember that phrase?) to deal with the deficit, even though it is larger than Greece’s.

“Protecting Frontline Services” – More spend, spend, spend, from Labour, which will mean more tax, tax, tax, for you and me.

“Standing up for the many” – A return to the class war politics that everyone hates. But this also suggests that the government hasn’t stood up for the many over the last 13 years,  which would explain the increases in inequality.

“Protecting future jobs and new industries” – How can Labour even think about this after it simply allowed Corus (and our steel industry with it) to collapse with many left out of work. Plus let us not forget that the hike in National Insurance announced in the pre-budget report, and due later this year is a tax on new jobs. So what this is, is an admission that they can’t protect current jobs, or current industries!

Labour are in denial if they think that their record in their 13 years in power will not be used to hold them to account. They have increased our tax burden putting more people into poverty. They have increased the rich/poor divide. They want to tax you when you die. They have run the economy into the ground, with the worst deficit in the G20 and longest recession in modern times. The have failed to protect or help industries. They have a generation of people who are unemployed, and a higher level of unemployment than when they took office. They have made your chances of getting treatment on the NHS a lottery depending on where you live.

That’s Labour’s record! It’s not fair, and it’s not right.