In May 2010, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats came together to form a coalition government, promising to erase the economic deficit in just one parliament, with ?Plan B? not an option. Over two years into their economic programme, the UK is again in recession with growth at a standstill. Andrew Bettridge met with Chris Leslie MP, shadow financial secretary to the Treasury, to discuss the economic situation and what Labour must do to provide real change.
Nottingham is a city famed for its links with the legend of Robin Hood, references to the heroic outlaw who stood up for the poor can be found all over the city. I meet with Chris Leslie who represents the east of the city ? which covers some of the most deprived inner city areas in the country.
To get to the constituency office, I walk up Maid Marian Way, one of the many links to the famous outlaw. With tax cuts for the rich and the poor having to carry much of the economic burden, many of whom who are struggling to make ends meet, I can?t help but think of Tory chancellor George Osborne as the modern-day equivalent to the Sheriff of Nottingham.
As we begin our conversation, Chris, who presently serves as a shadow minister, explains to me that it was the unfairness of Tory politics during the 1980s that inspired him to join the Labour party as a keen teenager wanting to make a difference.
Chris, who grew up in Shipley, close to Bradford, explains to me: ?My parents weren?t particularly involved in the party but they both worked in the public sector for the local council, so you heard a lot of the anti-Thatcher sentiment.
?My mother was in further education and there was a reduction in support for people studying and there were high levels of youth unemployment.
?Then my father worked as an architect for the local authority. They used to build council houses and elderly people homes but under Thatcher this just stopped.
?It meant that when Labour came in there was a lot of work needed to be done to try and rebuild the country.?
And now with the coalition government making similar decisions to Tory governments of the past, he says to it has come ?full circle?.
Chris admits that, had Labour won the 2010 election, his party would now also be making ?tough? decisions on the economy. He strongly rejects the argument of some political commentators who have said it is easier for his party being in opposition as the Tories make for the cuts.
?I would rather have Labour making difficult decisions rather than Tories messing up which is having a big impact on people?s lives and especially in Nottingham,? he says to me.
?Yes it would have been a very tough time to be in government but I just think Labour people rolling up their sleeves would have made much better decisions on the economy.
?When we left office the recovery was just starting to begin. I think we would have been climbing out of this hole far more effectively with a Labour government.
?You see what happened when we tried to stimulate the economy with VAT, it wasn?t the be all and end all but it helped push things in the right direction.?
Chris describes being in opposition as a ?horrible? experience, saying you can only really comment on what the government is doing.
When the coalition formed in 2010, Osborne said with supreme confidence that he would bring down the deficit in one parliamentary term.
However, with the country now in a double-dip recession and growth nowhere to be found, the Labour MP tells me he thinks voters will punish the Tories for ?massively? failing to deliver on their economic promise next time around at the ballot box.
?I think the public gave the government the benefit of the doubt after the election.
?However, I think that has been eroding away on a weekly basis with the omnishambles of various other things and people are starting realise that they (the government) don?t actually know what they are doing.
?What voters will not respect is that you claim that you are going to do something with big success and then massively fail to deliver.?
One of the most significant moments of the year in the political world was the election victory of Fran?ois Hollande, the first French socialist president since 1995, promising a focus on growth as an answer to austerity.
I ask Chris in his position as a shadow Treasury minister what this could mean for the Labour party if Hollande is successful in achieving his vision.
?I think it shows there is an alternative to the Cameron, Merkel and Sarkozy view of the world which was very much this axis of austerity.?
?This was really why the eurozone was being pulled back and into a recessionary situation and they still haven?t sorted this out.
?The problem is that Hollande has got an incredibly high set of expectations and a lot of people have vested so much hope in him.
?Even if he gets nine out of 10, people will still say that he hasn?t done that one thing.
?He needs to be very careful but it does show there is an alternative credible way forward and we must look at that.?
Chris believes the tide is beginning to turn with voters starting to see the differences between Ed Miliband and the Conservative prime minister.
With county council elections next year and just under three years to the next general election, he says now is the time for the party to come up with a ?really strong message?.
?We need to show how we would walk a different path to the government; not just on the economy but on how we would reform public services and many other issues.
?We need to set out our positive alternative vision for Britain,? Chris says as our chat comes to a close.
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Andrew Bettridge is a journalism graduate and tweets @AndyBettridge1
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Photo: chrisleslie.org
Chris Leslie, coalition government, cuts, economy, Ed Miliband, Francois Hollande, Labour, Margaret Thatcher, Nottingham
Source: http://www.progressonline.org.uk/2012/08/20/full-circle/
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