Time to Fight the Real Enemy
OK. Enough of the whinging and bellyaching. For some time now I’ve been obsessed with the Labour Party’s lack of an elected leader and I have to admit that it’s been distracting me from the real fight; a fight against an enemy who will destroy all the good work done by Labour in the last twelve years.
For those of you who have either forgotten or, like me, have been distracted by internal matters let’s have a quick recap. Firstly what was life like under the Tories? Remember the NHS before Labour transformed it? Crumbling hospitals, patients dying before they had even seen a consultant, a criminal lack of investment in staff and facilities. What about schools? Remember when you had to save all the scrap paper from work and take it to the local school because they had nothing to write on? Under the Tories state schools were simply dumping grounds for those whose parents couldn’t afford private education. We can’t allow Cameron and his Old Etonian cronies to return us to the misery we suffered under Thatcher and Major.
As for Labour’s achievements outside of the NHS and schools how about the minimum wage? The Tories said it couldn’t work and they would get rid of it as soon as they came to power. If they had their way the lowest paid workers would still be taking home less than £2.00 per hour. Pensioners would be even poorer than they are now and the gap between the richest and poorest in this country would have widened even more than it has under Labour.
If the minimum wage isn’t enough to convince you how about relative peace and stability in Northern Ireland, free TV licences for the over 75s, free bus travel for the over 60s, free swimming for under 16s and over 60s, or free entry to national museums and galleries? We even have a Prime Minister who is revered in the rest of the world for the way he has the led the fight against the global financial crisis.
What I don’t really understand is how this situation came about. We are almost guaranteed a Tory government next time around and, if the worst actually happens, it will be the people with most to lose who will drive the final nail into Labour’s coffin. In recent elections, whether local or national, Labour’s core vote has stayed at home and gifted victory to the Tories without them having to increase their vote. Maybe these traditional Labour voters are like me and have become disillusioned by what can be perceived as lost opportunities or maybe, again like me, they have never come to terms with why we were duped into invading Iraq.
Whatever the reason for staying at home in parliamentary by-elections, council elections and the complete waste of time and money that the European Elections represent, people need to realise that a General Election is not the time to stay at home or register a protest vote. By doing so traditional Labour supporters will allow the Tories to gain power and destroy everything that Labour has achieved whilst in power and for that I will never forgive a single one of them.
