Currently viewing the tag: "UK Politics"

What If Britain Left Europe? (Economically, that is)

by Lev on 20 March 2013
Mr. Stross looks at the most likely effects this would have. Basically, Britain would see its foreign trade dry up and wouldn’t really gain any real independence, and considering that the UK is such a financialized economy at this point, getting cut out of free trade pacts don’t sound all that good. It does seem pretty clear that the UK’s deeply hated leaders are hoping to use Europe as a way of keeping attention off of the inability of their one-dimensional austerity strategy to prove results. The only question is whether or not it has enough juice to accomplish this, and I’m skeptical. It’s shrewd in its way, but it’s buttressing an essentially reactive economic strategy at this point, and that’s the biggest fundamental. It could wind up being Cameron’s “self-deportation” moment I suppose.
{ 2 comments }
Lev filed this under: , , ,  

Yurropean Soshialists, On The Rise

by Lev on 4 October 2012

Believe it or not, there are things going on in the world that don’t involve presidential debates! Such as possibly massive changes in Europe due to this:

Germany‘s opposition party, the Social Democrats (SPD), has closed the gap on Chancellor Angela Merkel‘s Christian Democrats following the selection of her former finance minister to lead their general election campaign next year.

Polls show that the choice of Peer Steinbrück as the SPD challenger last week has given the party a significant boost in its attempt to oust Merkel. The SPD is now enjoying its highest level of support in a year.

A Forsa survey shows that the SPD has gained three points from a week earlier to 29% after the selection of the feisty, plain-speaking 65-year-old. Merkel’s party dropped three points to 35%.

The combined support for the SPD and the party’s preferred partner, the Greens, is now 41%, marginally ahead of the 39% support for the ruling centre-right coalition.

This could well be a polling bump, but I suspect it isn’t only that. Merkel’s party has lost ground in local elections recently, and she has been in power for about seven years now. Weariness is to be expected: in most democracies that’s when people start to get antsy, start seeking new leadership. Not to mention her pious incompetence on finding any sort of solution to the euromess–which hurts Germany too, incidentally, since those are their main trading partners–should make this a doable task for the generally unimpressive German left (two election victories in thirty years!). For the sake of the planet, let’s hope they’ve got it in them.

Also, it would appear that the British public is just about done with Cameronian austerity, Tories now trail Labour by 14 points in the polls, a margin that just seems to keep expanding. Admittedly, the election probably won’t take place there for another two years and much can happen, but it turns out that Cameron’s new vision of conservatism has turned out to be not all that new. I have little doubt his party will make him stick with austerity to the bitter end.

All in all, it’s not looking good for those who want to dismantle the welfare state (theirs in the case of Cameron, mostly others in the case of Merkel) in order to create “confidence.” Several years in, the only thing their electorates are confident of is that there needs to be a change of direction.

{ 0 comments }
Lev filed this under: , , ,  

The Break Arrives

by Lev on 17 April 2012
Over in the UK, Labour is now up big over the ruling Tories. Part of that is almost certainly a stalled, ailing economy, but what’s sort of interesting because a big part of their drop is due to implementing a cap on charitable deductions, which is essentially what Obama wanted to do here to cut the deficit. It’s good policy, but really terrible politics. I have no idea if implementing such a cap would limit charitable deductions by wealthy people, I suspect it wouldn’t, but intuitively it seems as though it would, and it’s a short hop from this and austerity to getting the “heartless” tag. Or maybe it’s already done. Of course, none of this wouldn’t have been necessary had the Tories not made a huge cut in the highest tax bracket a few weeks back. I’m beginning to think that all those stories about how thoughtful and moderate the Tories are might be overblown, don’t you?
{ 0 comments }
Lev filed this under: , ,  

Yup, Ryancare Sure Is Going To Be Popular…

by Lev on 20 February 2012

Here’s what action on privatization will get you:

David Cameron has squandered the Conservatives’ new year lead as voters turn against his health reforms, according to a Guardian/ICM poll. The Tories are down by four percentage points in a single month, slipping from 40% to 36% since January.

Labour is one point ahead, on 37%, with Ed Miliband’s party up from 35% last month. The Liberal Democrats slip back two to stand at 14%, and the combined total of the smaller parties has climbed by four points, to 13%.

As the prime minister hosted a special NHS summit, which excluded the professional bodies most opposed to his health and social care bill, the public is siding with those royal medical colleges who want the legislation ditched.

An outright majority of respondents, 52%, say that the bill – which would overhaul NHS management, increase competition and give family doctors more financial responsibility – should be dropped. That is against 33% who believe it is better to stick with the plans at this stage.

Which is to say, push more costs onto providers and introduce some kind of a Medicare Advantage-like program to complement, shall we say, the NHS (MA “competed” with Medicare at 150% the cost or so). But once again, the lesson is reaffirmed that steps toward privatization just aren’t going to be stomached by the voters of this or really any other electorate.

As usual, the worst news here is for the Liberal Democrats. But this would be a golden opportunity to tear their misbegotten alliance asunder, if they wanted to. Whatever the logic behind it at first, it’s pretty clear that the new Tories are essentially the same as the old Tories, only with dumber leadership. Even Thatcher never messed with the NHS. Clegg must have decided to go all-in with this alliance, hoping things will get better before it’s too late, but as we Democrats have learned here in the US, passively waiting for the economy to get better isn’t where you want to be in politics.

{ 0 comments }