New Labour's dance of the seven veils

Lynn Henderson

At the beginning of September 2004, Tony Blair set out seven key challenges between now and the election. Keen to avoid an election campaign on the government's record, our Leader then claimed to have no hang ups over private sector provisioning of public services.

Party and trade union activists, of course, know this is all a smokescreen to obscure the flames of occupation still burning in Iraq.

Tony's Dance of the Seven Policy Veils is so transparent. The seven layers are education, public services, poverty, law and order, retirement, multiculturalism and global climate change. The cloth from which it is cut is so flimsy that the whole issue received only one day of small print news coverage, with political analysis whatsoever. This of course is exactly what the spin doctors wanted. Press coverage of strident remarks going by unchallenged, lacking in detail and analysis of what is actually being announced. Perfect New Labour media management.

Let us lift one of these veils entitled "personalising public services". What with the lack of information, the mantra for this challenge appears to be focussed on cutting red tape for business and further privatisation of public services.

And so, Gordon Brown's Comprehensive Spending Review has seen the biggest attack on jobs in civil service history. Replacing human contact with computerised and electronic services is the precise opposite of personalising public services and cutting red tape.

104,000 civil service jobs are on the line. In the job cutting exercise, 20,000 are threatened with relocation - less jobs elsewhere is hardly regeneration! Private consultants in the civil service cost the government £1.3 billion, more than £3 million per day last year according to PCS union.

Privatisation, as well as providing poorer profit-driven services also creates a two-tier workforce. Although jobs are protected by TUPE at the point of transfer, new appointments thereafter in privatised or contracted out services are often on lower pay, poorer conditions with less favourable pension arrangements. PPP arrangements are poor value for money, lead to job losses and are inefficient. One need only look to the Railtrack experience as evidence.

The very people who make public services personal and provide a public service ethos, the workforce are under attack by the privatisation mantra. UNISON's positively public campaign focuses on both jobs and services. This should be welcomed by a Labour government as a form of free advertising for national services.

Privatised and contracted out services are inefficient, impersonal and in some cases positively dangerous. How efficient is it really to take a service out of the public sector, such as hospital cleaning. Contract service agencies hire staff at lower rates, with less job security, less training and a high demand to complete relatively mundane and formulaic tasks to meet "efficiency targets" at ever increasing rates to drive up profits.

These segregated workers are now given little opportunity to build relationships with other workers. Their interaction with workers and patients in hospital has been reduced to little more than a passing raised eyebrow. They do not feel part of the hospital culture, and are not because their employer is a private contractor. It is not in the contract to assist other workers or contribute to the life of the establishment. Passing a few words to cheer a patient up costs time and money, and is simply not in the contract and is therefore not encouraged.

Lift another veil and examine the reality beyond the soundbite. This is how New Labour has been "Tackling the problems of poor families and deprived neighbourhoods". In the Guardian in July 2004 Roy Hattersley wrote: "New Labour has fulfilled the party's historic destiny to redistribute income. Unfortunately, it has not happened in quite the way that the founding fathers intended. The total share of national income received by the poorest 10% of the population had fallen to 2.9%. The richest 10% still pocket 27%."

Hattersley was one of the many Labour activists that were shocked to hear Tony Blair during the European elections by arguing on Newsnight that the gap between rich and poor was not a key issue. For those who missed it, Blair said it was more important that the poor become wealthier in absolute terms, rather than better off relative to the rich.

Meanwhile Labour Party member John from Glasgow has been living on Incapacity Benefit since 1992. He has applied unsuccessfully for Disability Living Allowance. It seems that in Tony Blair's Britain, although he passes all the work tests for Incapacity Benefit, somehow he is not ill enough to receive DLA.

John receives £89.70 per week, out of which he contributes to rent and council tax and purchases weekly cards for electricity and gas. From within this pot, John must also buy food and clothes. "I model many clothes from Oxfam and Cancer Research shops. Every week I have to decide what and who to pay with my money."

Last month both his washing machine and cooker broke down, so he applied to the DSS for a Social Fund Loan to replace these items. "It was the quickest answer I have ever had from DSS" John laughs. Within three days he received a refusal letter, as he is not on Income Support. He could have applied for a Crisis Loan, but would have had to repay it from his benefit contribution at whatever rate was set.
Having found the welfare state safety net burst, John tried to purchase both items on hire purchase from various stores but with no success as he receives DSS benefits. He quips "Luckily I have family and friends who are very generous and help me out at times and there are good charity shops in my area." John says: "What about people who have no one to fall back on? Who do they turn to?"
To what audience did the bold confident Leader "face down" Leftwingers and outline his seven steps to victory? To conference delegates? To the National Policy Forum? To the NEC? To Labour MPs? Of course not! Tony Blair laid down his plans to a meeting of Party Staff - people who are paid to clap and cheer for him.

Salome Blair may find that his dance will not tantalise the electorate into giving him anything he wants. He could find that it is his own head that is served up on a plate.

It is time for those to whom the Leadership is accountable to strip each of New Labour's veils away to reveal the naked ugly beast beneath and rid this Party once and for all of the abhorant, right wing, neoliberal imperialist policies.

Lynn Henderson is a member of Glasgow Central CLP