Good speech by Rabbitte (apart from the tax cut bit at the end...)

I've just watched Rabbitte's speech on RTE.  It was good stuff and he made a very good case for getting rid of the Government and why Labour would make a difference. 

We need a new and different and better Government that will maintain a strong economy, but one that will also address the crucial issues neglected by the present Government: health, education and childcare, carers, affordable housing and better policing.

There was plenty about values in the speech:

We are a more open and liberal society now, but we cannot drift towards becoming a society devoid of community and public values. Yes, we have more rights to be ourselves, to think for ourselves and to act as we choose in matters of private morality. But we cannot walk away from our broader obligations to our community. The best way for our country to succeed socially as well as economically in the 21st Century will be by building the Fair Society in which there is liberty for all, responsibility by all and fairness to all.

There was a nod to Labour's traditions, Seán O'Casey, the rose and all that.  But what came across was sense of robust liberalism as much as social democracy. 

Labour's values of liberty, responsibility and fairness means taking citizenship seriously. From the quality of citizenship taught in our schools to defining not just the rights of citizenship but the responsibilities too. It means getting the balance right between diversity and integration. The challenge for our country now, is to define a new ethic to steer by. An ethic that is consistent with both personal freedom and personal responsibility. An ethic that respects people of many faiths and people of none. An ethic
that offers guidance both to Government in its policies and to people in their communities.

There was a strong commitment to tackling climate change and it too is seen as an ethical issue. 

We must, all of us, look at how our own behaviour is impacting on the environment. And we must look at how our country behaves in the world. We must face up to the great global challenge of climate change, not grudgingly, or belatedly, but as persuaders and leaders in Europe, and for Europe on the world stage. Climate change is not a niche issue, or a simple issue, or a soft issue. It is a challenge of a nature, and on a scale, that social democrats instinctively understand and embrace. With global poverty, climate change is the issue which will mobilise the next generation of socialists around the world.
We should be in the vanguard of that movement.

In his peroration Rabbitte referred to taxation.  He reiterated the familiar "taxes are down and will stay down" and was critical of the FF/PD choice to cut the top rate of tax.   

When you cut the top rate of tax, those who have most, benefit most. If you cut the lower or standard rate all taxpayers benefit but those on middle and low incomes gain most. Therefore, given the resources available, within 2 years of being returned to Government Labour will cut the standard rate from 20% to 18%.

Well, that was a surprise.  The trouble is it looks like a political stroke to win an election.  Also, to be able to fund a tax cut and fund all your public service improvements, you need a continued rate of economic growth between about four or five per cent for the next few years.  That assumption undermines the possibility of a more thoroughgoing critique of our economic state, something I still think is central to a credible Labour programme. 

Comments

[WorldbyStorm]

Michael Taft raises a similar point about the 'coda' of the tax cuts and I think you're both absolutely spot on.

But I can't help but feel that the speech was another reiteration of what is really a 'liberal' leftism of which the tax cut is of a piece. I have no argument with liberalism, but it's hard to see the traction this will have more broadly in a society where FG and to a much lesser extent the PDs already claim that chunk of the electorate.