Britannia Radio

As the economic news gets worse - as it will -  the pressures on 
Labour MPs will get more intense and they will be more difficult to 
keep united.

Some other headline stories on this theme (Courtesy Conservative Home 
blog)

Troubles for Labour as CWU considers splitting from the party...
"Labour faces losing a big union backer as the rebellion against Lord 
Mandelson's plans to sell part of the Royal Mail gathers force. The 
Communication Workers Union (CWU) will ask its 250,000 members to 
approve a formal split from the party if the Business Secretary 
presses ahead." - Times

...a ministerial aide quits...
"Jim McGovern said he had quit as parliamentary private secretary to 
business minister Pat McFadden in protest at the government's plans 
for the Royal Mail announced on Tuesday." - FT

...Labour MEPs defy Government on 48-hour working week...
"Twelve of the 19 Labour MEPs backed Mr Cercas' proposals to ban 
British workers from voluntarily choosing to work more than 48 hours 
a week after 2011, whatever their personal or professional 
circumstances... Pat McFadden, the Business Minister, discussed the 
defeat with employment ministers in Brussels, and insisted the UK 
will not accept the MEPs' decision." - Telegraph

...and Labour dissent over Heathrow expansion increases
"Forty Labour MPs have backed calls to put plans for Heathrow's third 
runway to a Commons vote. In total 80 MPs have signed a motion from 
Labour MP Martin Salter asking the government not to proceed with the 
controversial plans." - BBC

Secret plans revealed for second Gatwick runway
"A new runway could be built at Gatwick rather than Heathrow or 
Stansted under plans secretly being developed by companies bidding to 
buy Britain's second largest airport. The Times has learnt that BAA 
has sent bidders a confidential memorandum with a section entitled 
"Gatwick builds a second runway".  - Times   [THAT would cause a 
father-and-a-mother of a row - cs]

xxxxxxxxxx cs
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THE TIMES    18.12.08
Labour infighting has begun

Peter Riddell

The Labour infighting has begun. The Government's attempts to keep 
the British economy competitive have faced two big challenges from 
its own supporters. First, on Tuesday, proposals to reorganise Royal 
Mail were widely criticised by Labour MPs. Second, yesterday, the 
majority of Labour MEPs defied the Government by voting in the 
European Parliament to end the British opt-out from laws limiting the 
working week to 48 hours. In both cases, the Tories and Liberal 
Democrats largely supported ministers.

These issues matter both in themselves and as pointers to likely 
areas of conflict as the recession deepens and more jobs are lost 
(underlined by yesterday's further large rise in unemployment). The 
job protecting instincts of Labour MPs, and MEPs, are coming to the 
fore.

The Commons clashes turned on whether the involvement of an outsider 
such as TNT from the Netherlands in taking a minority stake in Royal 
Mail would break Labour's manifesto pledge against privatisation 
(denied by ministers since it would still be majority publicly 
owned). Concern over this was why Jim McGovern resigned yesterday as 
as parliamentary private secretary to Pat McFadden, the Postal 
Affairs Minister.

But the underlying dispute is about why Royal Mail has such severe 
problems. Critics say it is because the regulator has been biased in 
favour of private sector rivals.  [Wakey! Wakey Mr Riddle!  The EU 
prohibits the government from using the Post Offices as Government 
Offices for buying licences and similar functions. State contracts 
must be open to outside competition.  -cs]   But Mr McFadden said 
competition from other providers amounts to just one-fifth of the 
impact of the shift from mail to other technologies. Five million 
fewer letters per day are being sent than two years ago, at a cost of 
£500 million in lost profits. So radical change is unavoidable, 
irrespective of ownership or competition.

The vote against the opt-out is economic nonsense since a time of 
recession is just when flexibility is most needed, and people want 
oppotunities to boost their incomes.

Similar questions will arise over the coming months as big companies 
announce, or threaten, large redundancies. Last night, Lord Mandelson 
gave the second in a series of speeches, to the Royal Society of 
Arts, entitled new industrial activism. This set out the principles 
of what the Government can do to help industry that complements 
markets, on skills, innovation and infrastrcuture. At one level, this 
is part of new Labour repositioning against the Tories by emphasising 
terms such as "activism"
and "smart, strategic government".

Underneath the buzz words are tricky questions of when to intervene. 
Lord Mandelson's mantra is that "whatever the short-term decisions we 
make on transitional assistance for businesses faced with the 
extraordinary strains of the downturn, in the long-term there is no 
propping up unviable companies or running businesses from Whitehall. 
No heavy handed state. No backing away from free trade or open 
markets or the discipline of competition". So no to Woolworths. But 
what about bridging loans, and export credits, to motor companies?

Lord Mandelson's aspirations sound fine. But there are many traps: 
short-term help can all too easily turn into long-term, costly 
assistance as MPs and unions call for jobs to be "saved".