Britain: ‘For The Many, Not The Few’
“All social democracy is in crisis, but…this manifesto represents an attempt to deal with them”
The U.K. Labour Party’s election manifesto, officially unveiled on Tuesday after a draft was leaked last week, could serve as a template for the left-of-center political sphere worldwide, columnist Owen Jones wrote for the Guardian.
“Labour’s manifesto—unveiled today—is a moderate, commonsense set of antidotes to the big problems holding back one of the wealthiest countries on earth,” Jones wrote. “And—intriguingly—here is an attempt to confront the crisis of identity and vision afflicting social democracy not just in Britain, but across the western world.”
The manifesto includes pledges to raise taxes on the wealthy, nationalize public services, build affordable housing, invest in education, and, in what became a viral crowd favorite, install free WiFi on trains. On Twitter, the manifesto’s release was tracked under the hashtag #ForTheMany.
Its unbridled optimism was met with excitement from voters and disdain from Britain’s corporate media, which has a fraught relationship with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, and the reality remains that the Conservative Party is still ahead of Labour in the polls. But Jones and other columnists’ reactions seem to reflect a widespread belief that the plan could be a game-changer in global politics.
“The manifesto sketches out an answer to Britain’s broken model,” Jones wrote. “All social democracy is in crisis, but despite Labour’s multiple ailments, this manifesto represents an attempt to deal with them.”
“Unless Labour both increases turnout among younger voters, and increases support among greying Britons, a big defeat beckons,” he wrote. “But whatever happens, a clear outline for how a modern left-of-center party confronts the challenges of a crisis-ridden wealthy nation has finally been offered. And that is long overdue.”
Nadia Prupis, Common Dreams, staff writer
Source:
Published on
Tuesday, May 16, 2017 by Common Dreams
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ie/
Reference:
https://www.commondreams.org/author/nadia-prupis-staff-writer
Image:
Jeremy Corbyn speaking outside parliament
By RevolutionBahrainMC – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZbzzg0yLHo, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=43510928
Related Articles
Votarem, we will vote, writes Gerry Adams
Today Thursday, October 5th, is the anniversary of the RUC attack on a Civil Rights March at Duke Street in Derry in 1968
A changing vision on drugs: Colombia
The agreement on the fourth point of the Agenda, Solution to the problem of Illicit Drugs, made at the peace talks between the Colombian government and the FARC-EP, is an interesting case to show that times might be changing
ADAMS AND MCGUINNESS REVEAL TIMESCALE TO QUIT
Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams has announced that he will step down from
his leadership role as part of the party’s ten year plan
