We are currently reaping the rewards of Margaret Thatcher’s casino economy with everything from the banking crisis, our public utilities being owned by foreign companies, the selling-off of the NHS, Rupert Murdoch, our largely rightwing press, our diminished manufacturing base, and the horrifying revelations of Jimmy Saville, child abuse and Elm house.

As Dennis Skinner put it at the Durham Miners’ Gala, if the miners had won in 1984, the course of history would have been totally different … and we wouldn’t be living through the last months of this hugely destructive and anti-democratic government.   Another 5y is unthinkable and we need to fight back, if need be, again and again!

First and foremost, we must destroy ‘the mantra of balancing the books’ which was a Ronald Regan invention.  The deception is exposed in that it only applies to public spending.  Why should it be good for private business to borrow and invest for expansion but not for government to invest in jobs for the 8m unemployed and underemployed?

Jobs create income which leads to spending and more jobs are created in response to the increased spending – taxes rise and deficit falls.  “Look after the unemployment, and the budget will look after itself”. (Keynes, January 1933)

Dennis Skinner at Durham 2014

Published on Jul 13, 2014  Dennis Skinner MP at Durham Miners Gala July 2014

The Dennis Skinner manifesto:

1.  Put an end to the wage freezes

2.  A living wage across the whole of the UK

3.  Introduce free collective bargaining across the private sector

4.  Get rid of zero hours contracts and use of private companies like Serco, Capita and Atos.

5.  Put an end to the sequestration of Union funds.

6.  Proper decent public ownership of utilities

7.  End the Bedroom Tax

8.  Embark on a 1945-style house building programme – ‘Homes for heroes’

9.  A Robin Hood tax with the proceeds fed straight into the NHS

10.  Remember that Austerity is the biggest lie.

Together let’s start building the manifesto of Tony Benn and Bob Crow!