Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Labour voters badly let down by the ethics, economics and ecology of Brown and Darling

The two individuals in the Labour Govt people need to have trust in more than anyone are PM and former Chancellor Gordon Brown and current Chancellor Alistair Darling. Great power over us is vested in them. However, to put it mildly they are letting us all down very badly. Labour voters in very large numbers feel particularly let down and many are transferring their vote to the Greens, a natural home for the progressive centre/left (see here). I sense significant denial, the unconscious defense mechanism characterized by refusal to acknowledge painful realities, thoughts, or feelings, in Mr Brown and Mr Darlings ethics, economics and ecology (along with many other MPs and political parties in fact).

Alistair Darling's ethics have been seriously questioned. He is under fire for claiming expenses to cover accountancy advice. He has 'flipped' his Edinburgh/London properties four times in four years to great financial gain. The latest is that the far from right and honorable Mr Darling is to repay around £700 of wrongly claimed expenses, despite denying he had claimed for two properties at the same time!! This man is supposed to be in politics for social justice reasons for goodness sake!

Its not just Alistair Darling's ethical credentials that are under question. His economic and environmental credentials are under fire too. He has, along with Gordon Brown, presided over virtually unprecedented economic chaos and failed to put in place what is needed to give people secure, stable and sustainable livelihoods. Increasing numbers of voters, progressive [now former] Labour and Liberal Democrat supporters in particular, are looking to plans such as the Green New Deal as the best option (one million jobs for starters, and kick-starting a green industrial revolution involving: wind-turbine and solar panel manufacture; more trains, trams and buses; jobs-rich sustainable waste management systems; a revolution in UK agricultural output...).

The Aviation White Paper which laid the foundation for massive air travel and airport expansion, is apparently one of Alistair Darling's key 'achievements' during his period, before becoming Chancellor, as Minister for Transport. His work, that of Gordon Brown, and work done under their direction assumed: an optimistic outlook for the UK and the global economy; an ongoing rosy picture for the aviation industry; stable and fairly low oil prices...the exact reverse has happened! Neither Darling or Brown have environmental credentials to speak of, not least because the exploration of and planning for aviation expansion on their watch took little or no account of carbon emissions targets and the socio-economic consequences of climate change.
There are many further examples of the work of Brown and Darling I could detail such as plans to build hundreds of miles of roads and expanding the number of coal-fired power stations whilst simultaneously saying that climate change is the most serious threat we face...

With such 'leadership' its no wonder that half the public feel that half our MPs are corrupt and very large numbers want a general election before the year is out (see survey details here).

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