Blair returns to troubled Labour party
Tony Blair returns from his summer holiday today amid increasing dissent among Labour MPs and reports of a crisis in the party’s finances.
The prime minister has planned a series of policy announcements this autumn, from local government reform to social exclusion, but his immediate return is likely to be overshadowed by growing problems with his own party.
Dozens of Labour MPs signed a letter calling for the recall of parliament earlier in the summer to discuss the government’s policy on the Middle East crisis, and despite a UN resolution on the issue now being implemented, concerns about the UK’s position remain.
Figures from the Electoral Commission released on Wednesday also revealed the extent of Labour’s financial problems – it owes £28.2 million in loans and has had to sell its Westminster headquarters.
The majority of Labour’s funding is now coming from the unions, and they are likely to use this influence to demand changes to the government’s NHS reform plans at the Labour and Trades Union Congress (TUC) conferences next month.
A motion put to the TUC by Prospect calls for an end to private sector involvement in the NHS, an end to targets and a return to a nationally planned and managed service – in direct contrast to the government’s current aim to devolve control over the health service.
Unison general secretary Dave Prentis is quoted in the Daily Telegraph as saying: “[Ministers] cannot carry on with this continual circus of reforms when all it means is bringing the private sector in so they can make profits, while trusts are plunged into deficit and our members are being made redundant.”
Yesterday, Labour rebel Ian Davidson criticised the party’s financial reliance on the unions, which has been necessary partly because membership levels have fallen, and raised once again the issue of Mr Blair’s departure from office.
“Why should the unions have to spend their members’ money to prop up the Labour party if the Labour party is not capable of raising money from its own [members]?” the MP told BBC Radio Four’s World at One.
“I think the fact that the Labour party membership has slumped so much under the present leadership is actually a pretty damaging indictment of that leadership which means that we need to refresh and renew the Labour party and we need a change of leader.”
Despite these internal problems, however, Mr Blair has a busy schedule ahead of him – before he went on holiday, he stressed that “on policy, we are moving forward probably in a more radical way than have for ages”.
Policy announcements are expected next month on social exclusion, to outline how ministers intend to help hard-to-reach families; on local government; and on science and technology, including how businesses are regulated.
