Ten years of New Labour brings party to new low as polls loom

AS WE come towards New Labour’s tenth anniversary in government, the latest opinion polls show David Cameron’s Tories 11 percent ahead - and Blair looking like yesterday’s man.

He is dogged by the taint of scandal (cash for peerages and his own links to unsavoury business leaders and politicians) dishonesty (lies over weapons of mass destruction) and his fawning subservience to George Bush.

He is desperately clinging to office for a few more weeks in order to force through even more reactionary policies, including the decision to squander tens of billions on a replacement nuclear missile system to replace Trident, a policy he can only get through the Commons by leaning on Tory support.

But his departure will not bring any significant change: New Labour is a creature of Blair and Gordon Brown: the two men stand equally guilty on every indictment - neoliberal policies, destruction of public services, warmongering, widening inequalities and environmental vandalism.

Ten years of New Labour is already more than enough. Blair and Brown must both be pushed aside if their legacy is not to culminate in handing power back to a still-discredited Tory party at local and national level.

And it’s high time the trade union leaders seeking to ease the transition to Brown were forced to fight instead for their members’ interests - and support the left wing challenge from John McDonnell.