Monday, 18 September 2023

Blue Labour Will Fail, Prepare For It Now - Part 3 of 10

One reason that Sunak may still go for an election before the end of this year, is this problem that, as wages in the non-state sector continue to rise much faster than for state employees, as the state uses its power to try to hold those wages down, workers simply leave a sinking ship. And, as that state provision collapses further, it leaves the millions still employed in it, even more desperate, and led into industrial action. The NHS has basically collapsed, already, with the effects of Brexit compounding its problems, as it fails to recruit workers, much as is also seen across the social care system. But, its not just the NHS.

If Britain gets a bad Winter, its likely to grind to a halt, simply because its rotten infrastructure will collapse. Its been highlighted by the RAAC issue, which will also bring the issue of the problem of asbestos, in many of those buildings, to the forefront, but a much bigger problem is with the collapsing road network. Its amazing with all of the legal claims companies encouraging people to claim for having been misled over diesel and so on, that none are enabling mass claims against local councils for damage to vehicles from all of the cavernous potholes that are now so ubiquitous that its impossible to avoid them, and which daily threaten the lives of cyclists and motor cyclists.  A bad Winter will simply cause the fabric of the roads to collapse, meaning that road transport will become near impossible, either due to the state of the road, or because of the need to close roads for repairs to be undertaken.



As with the Thatcher/Major years from 1979-97, a Tory government has again failed to mend the roof of Britain's house whilst the sun was shining, and now the roof, walls and fabric of the building is falling in on itself. It will require huge amounts of spending, at a time when, now, interest rates are rising sharply, so causing the government to have to also pay out much more to borrow the money to carry out the vital repairs. There is a good reason that Sunak will want to avoid that problem. But Blue Labour has failed on that count too. The only realistic way to undertake all of the vital spending is via increased taxes, yet, Blue Labour, and its tailist approach has persistently refused to commit to any such taxation. Its agenda, on that, as much as with its cakist approach to Brexit, is, then, just a pure fantasy. If its lucky, voters will ignore that fantasy, as they seek to rid themselves of the Tories, but the fantasy will not ignore Blue Labour, when they are in government, and have to resolve that contradiction.

Previously, large scale infrastructure projects could also be financed, across the EU, via various EU funded programmes. In Brexit Britain, reminders of that remain, where the EU flag adorns the various notices of the results of those projects, where it has not been defaced by reactionaries who seek to deal with their own internal rage at the disastrous consequences of their actions in voting for Brexit. No such prospect exists, now, and Britain will have to try to fund the necessary spending via its own more limited tax base, as Andrew Marr also admitted.


Blue Labour will face that problem, meaning that its current attempts to avoid discussing it with ridiculous flim flam about its aspirations, values, and intentions will fail, within weeks of coming into government. No amount of values and aspirations will build a single road, repair a school, or pay the required higher wages of state employees. For that, money is required. Illustrating, again, the reactionary and delusional nature of the idea of national independence, Britain's economy is just too small to provide that economic base.


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