Text of email sent to Stephen Pound (MP Labour, Ealing North), Wednesday 26th June

Dear Stephen Pound I'm angered and saddened by Labour's announcement on the weekend that they intend to accept the current coalition's spending cuts as a starting point for 2015-16, as well as supporting a cap on welfare spending. I realise at some point Labour expect that their spending cuts will eventually be less than the Conservative cuts, but any public spending cuts at all are too much and not only unnecessary, but even detrimental to economic recovery. The cuts are making the poorest pay for a mess caused by a group of super-rich maniacs at the top, who have not only escaped the crisis scotfree, but who are seeing their wealth increasing faster than ever before [1]. The cuts have caused families to be displaced, 100s of thousands of the poorest having to resort to food banks, 100s of thousands of public sector workers to lose their jobs, widespread misery and poverty to communities who were suffering even before the cuts were introduced, and so it goes on. And the worst of the cuts are still to come. These people hit by the cuts are hardly going to be going out spending money in shops, and on services, so where is the economic growth supposed to come from? Neither have the cuts been working economically: the debt and deficit are continuing to rise far beyond George Osbornes projections, and Britain has lost its AAA credit rating. One doesnt have to search hard to come across an abundance of informed opinion all agreeing on the madness that is austerity in time of a recession. For a start, Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel prize winning economist, has called for George Osborne to call of this mad austerity. No large economy has ever recovered from a downturn as a result of austerity. It is a certain recipe for exacerbating the recession and inflicting unnecessary pain on the economy. [2] Or Paul Krugman, another Nobel prize winning economist, who calls for George Osborne to undo that austerity This is a time for the UK government to be borrowing and spending. Boost the economy and give the private sector time to de-leverage. [2] Or there is an open letter co-signed by over 60 leading economists and academics from across the UK, all urging the government to halt austerity. [3] Even the bastions of neo-liberalism, the IMF, has warned Osborne to ease-up on his austerity programme. [4] A warning from such a source should not be taken lightly; as economist Ha-Joon Chang commented, being told by the IMF to go easy on austerity is like being told by the Spanish Inquisition to be more tolerant of heretics. Meanwhile, a certain economist made an impassioned speech in 2010 against coalition austerity measures. In the speech, titled 'there is an alternative', the economist railed against 'the new government [that] has got it so fundamentally wrong' on the issue of austerity, and said it was important that it is shown 'that the Tory cuts are not just unfair, but both unnecessary and economically-unsafe' [5]. This economist said he was bravely going to defy public opinion that said that there was no alternative to the cuts, because 'leadership is about changing and leading public opinion rather than being driven by it'. This economist was none other than Ed Balls, the very same economist who is now presiding over Labour's current support of the cuts. What changed for him to make such a colossal and scandalous U-turn?

I have various acquaintances who argue with me that there are now no longer any substantial differences between the Conservatives and the Labour Party, and that the Labour party have now been largely co-opted by rich/ corporate interests. I have further had it put to me that the UK is now, in effect, a one-party state - the business party - with three different factions, the Labour party, the Lib Dems and the Conservatives. I always argue against people who take this position, but often with limited or no success, and it is a position I am finding increasingly hard to maintain. The latest policy announcement from Labour HQ last weekend that if elected it will continue to make the poorest pay for the recklessness of the richest really will not help me allay such suspicions that Labour is transforming into a right-wing political party. Yours sincerely Stephen Doyle

[1] 'The collective wealth of Britains 1,000 richest people has increased by almost a third in the past year, easily the largest rise since records began 22 years ago '- April 2010 - Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/7624159/Sunday-Times-Rich-List-2010Britains-richest-see-wealth-rise-by-one-third.html [2] Nobel Prize winning economists Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz urging George Osborne to cease austerity measures http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/aug/17/top-economists-advicegeorge-osborne?CMP=twt_gu [3] Open letter to government from 60 leading economist and academics urging a stop to austerity measures http://m.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/mar/20/budget-shows-tories-true-colours [4] IMF warns against continued austerity http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/apr/16/imfosborne-austerity-deficit-uk [5] Ed Balls' anti-cuts Bloomberg Speech 2010 http://www.edballs.co.uk/blog/?p=907