Funding the Future

Is Labour really going to let some UK universities go bust, which they almost certainly will if it does not step in to save them? Do they really want to be the party that oversaw the start of the decline in UK education? That’s a long way from the legacy they’ll want.

Sugar is a substance as addictive as tobacco and alcohol, and may be much more dangerous now given the scale of obesity and type 2 diabetes now evident in the UK. The biggest improvement to healthcare and wellbeing in the UK that Labour could deliver would result from them helping us break our addiction to sugar. So, isn’t it time they did just that?

The row over the two-child poverty cap has revealed just how shallow the moral leadership of the new Labour government really is. If it carries on in this way the next five years are  going to be agonising.

By law we are meant to enjoy clean water and safe food, but air quality is very largely ignored in law. This is absurd because improved air quality in this country would save hundreds of thousands of lives, save the NHS a fortune and massively improve productivity. The gains would massively outweigh any costs. Labour should be delivering it.

Big business pays a large proportion of the UK’s taxes. They should be detailing exactly how much in their accounts. If Labour wants to hold business to account, this is a chance for them to do so.

Pensions are in the news because they very obviously are not working for people in the UK. The trouble is, the solutions assume a bit of financial engineering, and pouring some more money into the bottomless pit of the City of London will solve the problems. As I explain in this video, that’s definitely not true.

Millions of people living in private rented accommodation are still facing well over inflation-rate rent increases when increases in wages are falling dramatically as most inflation does as well. This penalises those living in that accommodation in a grossly unfair way. Labour could cap rent rises so they must be less than the rate of inflation to control this. It’s time it did.

We have lived through a forty-year period when just about every government minister has believed that nothing government can do is as good as what the private sector does. There is, however, no evidence to support this claim. It really is time politicians believed in the ability of government itself.

The Tories said they would end no-fault evictions from private sector accommodation but failed to deliver. Labour could deliver this reform now, and end this threat hanging over millions of people.

Scotland already has proportional representation for its local authority elections. England needs it, and Labour would win as a result. If we’re to have a pathway to better democracy in the UK as a whole, this is a place to start it. It’s time Labour gave us PR in local elections.