The poll results are astonishing, Richard. From a landslide victory in July Labour would now only win a few more seats than the Conservatives. This poll can only be regarded as a devastating judgment on Labour’s record in government since the election. The truth is that the problems facing the country are so grave that no government could possibly solve them in five months, nor even in five years. These problems include 7 million people on NHS waiting lists, 3 million people on sickness benefits, a shortage of 1.5 million homes, the annual arrival of over 1 million immigrants, of whom over 30 000 enter the country illegally, and maybe 150 000 children absent from school for extended periods each year. Ideologues of the left like to pretend that all these problems are attributable to fourteen years of Conservative rule. This presupposes that everything was fine before 2010 but let us assume for the sake of argument that it is all the fault of the Conservatives. Then what are the solutions proposed by Labour? As far as the NHS is concerned, Wes Streeting has travelled widely to see how other countries manage health care, but he has still not published a plan. If he does, it is unlikely to address the underlying problem, which is that millions of people are surviving into old age, when they require ever more expensive care and treatment. The country simply cannot afford to spend an ever increasing proportion of the budget on health care , which is now approaching an annual cost of £200 billion. The only solution is some kind of private insurance system for the majority. But Labour will never do this, wedded as they are with almost religious zeal to the notion of a health service free at the point of delivery.On sickness benefits Liz Kendall has talked tough but she is unlikely to find a solution to the benefit trap whereby many people fit to work get more in benefits than they would earn if they found a job. This would involve reducing the level of benefits so that it always pays to work. She would never get that through her own party, let alone Parliament where the Opposition would cynically be happy to vote it down.Angela Rayner has promised to build 300 000 new homes per year. Even if she were able to to achieve this, it would not solve the housing crisis given that a a million immigrants are arriving each year. But no one believes this figure is attainable. Firstly there are not enough people in the building trade with the requisite skills and it is doubtful whether there are 300 000 people with the money to buy these homes.On schools, will they fine parents who fail to send their children to school? Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper promised to smash the people smuggling gangs but in fact 20 000 people have entered the country illegally since the election. It is obvious that there has to be some form of deterrent to destroy the smugglers’ business model, but Labour abandoned the Rwanda scheme which might have fulfilled this purpose.So what have Labour done for a country ‘crying out for change’? They have given inflationary pay awards to state sector employees, removed winter fuel allowance from millions of pensioners, undermined family farms and increased employers’ costs, which has slowed growth. No wonder voters are turning away.
Steven Rose ● 74d