Globe of Splendour

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This comment on a Seaumus Milne pro-New Labour piece sums up my view:

This is becoming a mixture of tedious and annoying. We get it. The Guardian editorial line will be 'vote Labour'. This endless variations on the theme of 'only Labour can bring about major change and protect the vulnerable' is as tired as it is untrue.

Electoral reform would be a progressive move but what New Labour offer - after 13 years - is a vote on AV, a system that will give Labour an even bigger share of the seats with even less votes. Labour and Conservatives are united in their opposition to STV.

Getting rid of Trident would be progressive, but they aren't suggesting that. Labour agrees with the Conservatives on keeping Trident.

Reining in the banks and separating out investment and high street banking would be progressive, but Labour doesn't suggest it. Once again, on this, they agree with the Conservatives.

Strangely, the one party that does break with the consensus on STV, Trident, banking and more besides is the Lib Dems.

If Labour loses - and loses big - there is a real opportunity for two things. Firstly, an end to the archaic voting system. That would mean the Tories are unlikely ever to achieve a majority again.

Perhaps even more importantly, the party that threw the working class in the dustbin because they were no longer useful to them would be consigned to history themselves. Polly tried to warn of the possible epoch-making defeat that Brown could lead Labour into, but there are too many mice and not enough men in Labour these days. Nobody would move against him.

Seamus knows it, and everyone else knows it. If Labour finish third in this election, the party's over. New Labour is a photocopy of the Tories - economically neoliberal, slavishly following the American military lead. There's no point to them any more.

If Labour are moved out of the way, there is at least recognizable ideological clear water between the Tories and Lib Dems. Sorry, but it's not enough to say "Oh sure, they bombed Iraq, swapped saliva with the City, shredded civil liberties but hey look - their tax proposals are mighty progressive." FFS, they've had 13 years to implement radically progressive tax structures. And the truth is, thanks to Gordon 'An End To Boom And Bust' Brown, there's so little money to play with that everyone's going to have to be taxed more and paid less.

The Guardian's 'vote Clegg, get Cameron' line smacks of the same desperation as the Telegraph's 'vote Clegg, get Brown' tactic. It's an attempt by both camps to scare people back into traditional voting patterns.

Labour isn't progressive. Nobody's buying that particular line of bullshit anymore. If Labour come third, genuine progressives will rejoice, because the party that promised progression and enacted Toryism will be on their way to oblivion.