Is this the leadership candidate Labour has been awaiting?
Jeremy Corbyn
It seems the Parliamentary Labour Party has finally produced a candidate for the role of Labour leader who doesn’t want to turn Labour into a pseudo-Conservative Party.
Jeremy Corbyn has launched his bid for the leadership, claiming he will offer a clear alternative on the economy – particularly opposing austerity – and to social security.
Here’s the Daily Mirror‘s view:
Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn tonight launches a surprise bid for the party leadership.
The left-winger revealed he wanted to give Labour members “a proper choice” when they elected a new chief.
Mr Corbyn believed the four declared candidates were too similar, saying: “They are not offering a clear enough alternative on the economic strategy and austerity, and our attitude to welfare expenditure.
The 66-year-old, who has been MP for Islington North since 1983, needs the backing of 35 MPs for his name to appear on the ballot paper sent to members.
Mr Corbyn, a vice-chairman of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and chairman of the Stop the War coalition, said he offered a “different economic strategy, particularly opposing austerity”.
And he believed a Labour Party he led would be “exciting, outgoing, very rooted in the community and very committed to social change in our country”.
he hasn’t a hope in hell mike because austerity is here to stay and that’s what the public voted for at the general election
i like him but it would be the end of the labour party should he make it. the worlds moved on the deaths of the sick and disabled are just the tip of the iceberg the suicides in this country from the younger generation are at record levels as are the homeless
i’m afraid to say mike this country is finished for many groups of people and am just glad that i am at the end of my life as i sure as hell wouldn’t wont to be born today
this country has no values whatsoever it see’s nothing it knows nothing and as i’m frequently told at a local level i’m not interested and at the end of the day that’s the bottom line
I respectfully hope you’re mistaken.
Can’t we have a glimmer of hope without someone ripping it away?
Unfortunately I agree with you Nick.
Thanks Jim and i say what i state with a heavy heart
Jeremy will never achieve that aim the country has moved on
to a very right wing platform and there is no way the likes of Jeremy will get the labour party back on track with a swing to the left
The only way forward, for the labour party is to find out
god knows how why 15 million people did not vote at the election as that is the only key to unlock in going forward for the labour party
The conservative’s at this time are speaking for the majority who voted for them and David Cameron is very clearly in the driving seat and that is how it will stay over the next 5 years and at that time will hand over the reins to George Osborne or Boris Johnson to maintain government for a further 5 years
Anyone of the new labour leaders will not make any headway
for the simple reason David Cameron was very clear about economic strategy and austerity and those that did vote at the election voted for it so it will be most unlikely in 5 years’ time anything will be any different
Economic strategy and austerity, was the winning hand at the
last election and with much regret that’s what the public voted for and that’s now what they’re going to get
Jeremy is a good man but I just do not see the UK in a
social mode only selfish and I can’t see how you could possibly change that other than a miracle
Nah, 24% of eligible voters voted Tory, 36% of the total vote – hardly a resounding pro-austerity vote, is it?
Nick, do you really believe that the last election was an endorsement of the policies of the Tories towards the sick, disabled and other disadvantage sections of our society? What happened was that too many people felt that the Labour Party had deserted them so didn’t vote – or voted for another party – which allowed the Tories to sneak in through the back door.
Jeremy Corbyn, or any other candidate who represents a break from New Labour is just what the Labour Party needs. What we don’t need is defeatist talk which will be music to the ears of the Tories and the right-wing press.
Tory lies won a small victory. Milliband, and Coopers rat of a husband now what was his name, anyway they made it easy for the Tory’s; now we want Labour Rottweilers not Labour Lite Blue Pekinese.
Dig them up from the grave if you can’t find a live one.
ken i’m not sure where you live i live in Sussex and the people here in the main would go for benefit cuts as there overall a selfish lot and vote tory as there is no way on earth they would vote for labour they are not nothing like me at all
even our labour candidate is well off the mark from even myself and i am not even labour but retired from the Establishment as a diplomat
labour has to get at least to my level of sociability with a strong understanding on what that means but even then i cant see Sussex changing from it’s overriding selfish standpoint
Nick, with respect, I disagree that people voted “for” austerity. They may have voted out of fear generated by the Tory / MSM on a number of issues, but if you recall a majority of those in Scotland voted SNP because they said they were to the left of Labour. Many in the rest of the UK who were lost by Labour voted Ukip, and I wouldn’t suggest that they did this because they all wanted an ex-merchant banker to organise booze ups for them. Many didn’t vote Labour because of the New Labour policies, and a failure to provide a narrative that met peoples own experience.
Jeremy Corbyn represents a great hope that the debate will open up in the Labour party, and start to galvanize opposition in the HP and outside. For me it’s good news.
Let’s hope he gets the required number of MPs too back him, at 66 he should know all about life and that’s what is needed to get the Labour party back on course,
In my opinion.
at last my prayers have been answered. A principled and committed socialist candidate to unite the party and save it from the path of decline
If there IS a God………
I will agree with Nick on one point I am 64 years young and I wouldn’t want to be starting out on a career in today’s work climate BUT you have to have hope otherwise you have nothing to live for..
I hope he gets the required number of votes and hope and pray he is as good as his word.
We need someone of good heart to lead us out of the abyss.
I personally like Michael Meacher and what he stands for I don’t even know if he kept his seat.
I’m also a pensioner, but I would love to have the opportunity to be young in todays world of scientific and technological innovation, and travel, and the sense of a connected world. No, I wouldn’t want to go through teenage years again, or be an unemployed, poorly educated youngster in an area of high unemployment, but at least if you’re young you have the strength and health to do things, for fun, and for protest. But I will make my contribution as ever I can, until my dying breath, to fight, and fight, and fight. I will use my experience and skills to try & help the opposition form locally, to help inform people in the history and practices of trade unionism and activism and opposition and dissent.
I’m actually sad that I won’t ever get to march with tens of thousands across London again, holding the banner aloft!
I completely endorse this man! WE should have stood up to Cameron from the start, local authorities should have fought against the cuts from day 1. This is OUR MONEY, and it’s up to us how it is used.
Austerity is being used as a control mechanism, and we’ve all had enough.
While fully supportive of your comments, and completely agree on the principle, the problem here is that you’ve adopted the neoliberal position inadvertently, which is how they’ve managed to win the debate.
It’s not OUR money, but it’s not Government money either. We should be highlighting that it’s the ECONOMY’s money – and withdrawing it through cuts and austerity will only have one outcome. Killing the economy! Problem is, this is what the Neoliberals want, the worse the economy is, and so long as people continue to fundamentally misunderstand money, the easier it is for them to continue dismantling the state.
Real money can only be created by government spending into the economy, and destroyed when we relinquish (pay) our tax liabilities. Banks make money too, by lending to credit-worthy individuals and businesses (or, as what caused the GFC, un-creditworthy ones and selling the debt to the unsuspecting, but that’s another story), but this is not real money, as it can be destroyed not only by paying back the loan, but also when a default occurs, unlike real money (you cannot “default” on tax, unlike bank loans).
Austerity – cuts to government spending – reduces the amount of Real money in the system, which reduces the economy’s ability to relinquish tax liabilities. Yes, this can be covered short-term by using Bank money, but ultimately this reduces the amount of real money the banks hold in reserves, so cannot be done indefinitely. This drives down the tax take (workers take jobs with lower earnings due to the lack of real money supply, businesses reduce output etc) and gives these a***holes currently in power the excuse to further reduce spending and services, even though they undoubtedly know this will continue the decline.
Economists who understand how Fiat money systems work (mostly in the MMT school) will tell you, governments who aim for surpluses are actually aiming to impoverish the people they are supposed to represent.
It’s a similar story with debt (which is not, unlike how the Neoliberals claim, required to fund spending, but has another, important role in the economy), but I think this post is long enough already!
TL:DR – If we want to win the debate against austerity, we need to reclaim the debate on money creation, and stop using the Neoliberal position incorrectly!
Again, I disagree, the political is the personal.
(It certainly feels like “my” money when having paid into NI all my life I see people sanctioned & denied benefits, because I PAID FOR THAT SAFETY NET!!!! )
Public money is one term I prefer, because the economy is, like economics, actually quite hard to pin down the harder you look at it. The economy is a system, not an entity / body.
If we allow the wealth of the country to become disembodied as “The Economy” it becomes prone to being diverted to the rich & other interest groups like banks and corporations, rather than being used for the common weald, the common good. Especially this government that has turned the economics of austerity into their own version of white collar crime. Those who have been harmed by it have been cast out to the nether regions of taker not contributors, which allows them to be harmed rather than helped by the common good.
Honestly I would rather invoke the fairies at the end of the garden than credit “The Economy” as something that “owns” the national wealth & well-being.
“Austerity is being used as a control mechanism, and we’ve all had enough”
Totally agree with this comment but many have lost the will to fight.
I expect Corbyn to be given a platform, regardless of his eventual chances of winning. Of course, this highlights the current problem with Labour, nobody is speaking on an anti-austerity platform and ‘inequality’ has been dropped from the rhetoric like a dirty word for the non-idea of ‘aspiration’.
Like many,I’m finding it difficult to come up with reasons not to walk away from Labour. But where to?. If Corbyn isn’t nominated, either under his own steam or through ‘loaned’ support from other front runners, I think that will be the final nail for me.
I agree with Mr Corbyn’s views, but unfortunately at 66 his age is against him.
this video clip will explain all it is funny especially the political bit half way through
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jdk_-wOp2I
Florence, the problem is so long as the general public believe that tax pays for government spending, and deficits (more spending than tax takes) require borrowing from the private sector, the argument against austerity can never be won.
Tax does NOT pay for government spending! That is not the purpose of tax. Instead, government spending puts money into the economy, and tax (along with what the neoliberals call government borrowing) takes surplus money out of the economy, in an attempt to control the daily interest rate.
If the government stops spending, or aims for a surplus, eventually there will be NO money in the economy, yours, mine or otherwise!
Try reading what Richard Murphy says about tax – http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2015/06/02/there-is-no-case-for-tax-only-a-case-for-what-tax-can-do-for-us/
The debate needs to be reframed. Yes, you’ve paid NI contributions, and that means you’re entitled to benefits, but consider that not as money you’ve set aside to help when you cannot earn (like savings), but instead in the same way as an insurance policy would work – you pay the insurance, claim against it if you need to. It may be you claim less than you paid in, or more than you paid in, but at the end it was a policy payment to protect you against the need. As you’ve paid the insurance policy when working, you’re entitled to the benefits when you can’t, simple as.