Hardly a week goes by without the two main parties having a go at each other. Yes, they might be arguing about minute policy differences more than ideological themes, but nevertheless we can see how broad differences about how society should be shaped serve to underpin policy options in most cases.
Following a quick sweep of stories over the last month or so I have made some updates to policy divisions previously identified on these pages. These are highlighted in bold and links to original sources are included for reference.
The economy. Government and opposition have clashed on the cause of the deficit, and the best way to tackle it. The Conservatives have blamed their Labour predecessors for allowing private debt to grow and for the state over reaching itself. Labour have opposed Osborne’s spending review, arguing that cuts should be delayed and take place over a longer time period. And in what some might see as populist moves, the new shadow chancellor Ed Balls has called on the government to scrap the planned VAT rise on fuel and to repeat last year’s bank bonus tax in order to fund an economic stimulus.
See here.
Public services. Plans to devolve power to GPs have been described as a “dangerous experiment”, at a time when public spending is being tightened. In education, Labour have been highly critical of the idea of “free schools”. Labour also opposed: ending EMA payments to 16-18 years olds; proposals to allow universities to raise tuition fees to £9,000; cuts to school sports funding; Gove’s planned education reforms have also been criticised by Labour this month: Andy Burnham, the shadow education secretary, has stated that Gove is turning the clock back to the days of the 1950s, and that in particular the initiative by Gove to create an “English bac” will lead to two tier schooling.
See more here.
Welfare reform. Labour have been less than enthusiastic about the Con-Lib government’s plans for welfare reforms: changes to child benefit have been described by Ed Miliband as “unworkable”; the 10% cut in housing benefit is, according to Douglas Alexander, “unfair”; replacing the tax credits system, and the elimination of the child trust fund, will, according to Labour, increase poverty. Last month, the shadow employment secretary Stephen Timms outlined his opposition to the speed at which the government’s new welfare capability test is to be rolled out.
See here.
Crime. Teresa May announced that the government was to scrap ASBOs (a decision criticised by Labour), and Labour have said that plans to cut the number of front line policemen will have a detrimental effect on crime reduction.
Civil liberties. ID cards have been kicked into the long grass, as has the national identity register. Government plans are in progress to ensure DNA storage and CCTV camera use will be more tightly regulated, and the Conservatives have stuck to commitments to a review of a host of other measures that were a feature of the 1997-2010 Labour governments, such as local authority surveillance powers.
The EU. Under the European Union bill, the Tories plan to bind future governments to holding a referendum before any further “significant” powers are transferred to Brussels.
The Conservative in opposition were frequent critics of how the Labour government had allowed private and public sector to grow, and saw it as a major contributory factor behind the 2008 banking crisis. There parties also clashed on how best to respond to the mortgage meltdown. When then Chancellor Alistair Darling announced plans to take the bank into public ownership, his opposite number, George Osborne, said it was the “worst option”. Since the election there have also been disagreements about how tackle the deficit, with Labour arguing that cuts should be delayed and take place over a longer time period, since the severity of the cuts would harm the recovery and low-income earners.
• Divides between the government and Labour have become evident since the election on public services. In health care, Andrew Lansley’s plans to devolve power to GPs have been described as a “dangerous experiment”, since it involves one of the biggest reorganisations of the NHS in its history at a time when the public spending is being tightened. In education, Labour have been highly critical of the idea of “free schools”. While they fit with the Labour mantra of choice in public services, shadow ministers have accused the government of prioritising a project that will affect a tiny number of pupils at the expense of improving schools for the majority. Labour also opposed the ending of the EMA payments to 16-18 years olds, proposals to allow universities to raise tuition fees to £9,000 (a decision which, according to John Denham, has been driven by an ideological imperative to shift the cost to students and away from the taxpayer, rather than a need to cut the deficit), and cuts to school sports funding. Gove’s education white paper has also met with opposition, with Andy Burnham arguing that it will result in a two tier education system, cementing a divide between educational and vocational qualifications.
• Labour have been less than enthusiastic to the Con-Lib government’s plans for welfare reforms. The changes to child benefit have been described by Ed Miliband as “unworkable”. The 10% cut in housing benefit is, according to Douglas Alexander, “unfair”. And while Labour agree with the principle of IDS’s welfare reforms, they have attacked the Conservative government’s plans to tackle unemployment on the grounds that they will have a negative impact on the poor when changes to tax credits and the elimination of the child trust fund are taken into account.
• Differences have also emerged on how best to tackle crime and manage the criminal justice system. Teresa May’s announcement to scrap ASBOs was criticised, as have been plans to cut the number of front line policemen.
• The Labour government’s Big Brother state has also been scaled back. ID cards have been kicked into the long grass, as have a number of databases, such as Contactpoint. DNA storage and CCTV camera use will be more tightly regulated, and the Conservatives have committed themselves to a review of a host of other measures that were a feature of the 1997-2010 Labour governments including: local authority surveillance powers, control orders, pre-charge detention, and the Human Rights Act.
• The clearest blue water emerges when we consider the relative positions of the two main parties on the European Union. The Conservative Party is almost homogeneously Eurosceptic. They have consistently taken a much colder stance with regards to entry to the single currency than Labour, and ruled it out entirely in their 2010 manifesto. They have also proposed negotiating opt-outs from the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Working Time Directive, and under the European Union bill, plan to hold a referendum before any further “significant” powers are transferred to Brussels.
