It is not over till "The Fat Lady Sings The Red Flag!"

Give up now. There is no point. Tories have won, Labour are heading for an other 18 years of oblivion. Darling and his economic advisor's did the budget on the back of a fag packet and we are heading for Third World status.

The media want us to believe this, the Tories are RELYING on us believing this and some of our own are starting to think it is true.

Comrades nothing could be further from the truth. The budget on Wednesday was a bitter pill to swallow in terms of debt but it was also the most heartening moment of the year. A Fabian headline of this year has been "Fairness now more than ever in Recession". This is essentially what the budget will deliver. Not cutting with a Cameron chain saw but offering help and support for those who need it most at an acutely difficult time. The fact that we are asking the wealthy to prop up these policies with a new top rate is a bonus.

Normally in times of economic strife the rich and wealthy while losing a % of their income can afford to carry on as normal without much effect on their lifestyle. Those with middle and modest income on the other hand get hit with the same economic punch but have not got the means to recover. This is why asking the rich to help out more than normal is entirely justified and "Fair". Exactly what a Labour Chancellor should be.

I am not an economist so I will leave the number crunching to others (something tells me Nick Robinson's number crunching is rather biased though) . Instead I want to concentrate on the political fall out.

One impact of all the negative media coverage of the budget is that people are automatically thinking the Tories will win the next election, it will be 1997 all over again and we are heading for disaster. People like Ian Dale getting a hard on and asking his disciples to hand in petitions to get rid of Brown and predicting that we are in our last days forget the oxygen we are getting from the Tories reverting to type and having no solutions of their own. You cannot win an election solely on mumping and moaning about how bad the "other lot are".

Our policy of action (as opposed to Tory inaction) has protected people's savings, protected people's mortgages and offered them protection from the worst excesses of free market capitalism. Can we imagine the position the country would be in if as the Tories wanted "we let the recession run it's course"? I shudder to think. This election in 2010 has all the hallmarks of a close run thing with distinctive battle lines drawn for the first time since 1997.

Our position is not favourable but it is far from desperate. Darling's projection of growth by the end of the year coupled with people our policy of help for families has a potential to unite us around a solid message of hope. This will be entirely in contrast to our Eton chums who will demand a return to an economic model which has been found severely wanting. John Prescott today also highlighted the sham of the "caring conservatives"

Locally this budget has taught us one thing, the SNP are a nigh on irrelevance. If letting "the recession run it's course" makes you shudder , being independent and trying to bail out RBS, HBOS etc would make a the most patriotic Scot seek asylum on the moon. Salmond yesterday said "IF we were in Government.." either that means he has forgotten he runs the Scottish executive or he is more of a lunatic than we thought. I wont grudge him this free tip - use the powers you have before demanding more. This is not to say we should ignore them as an election threat but merely highlighting how in a time of Global economic crisis their calls for independence are borderline insane.

An exciting year lies a head. There will be peaks and troughs more bad news and renewed hope. I am confident Mr Darling will steer us through with as little pain as possible , receiving the kudos for it and bolstering our poll percentages. We must build on the message Wednesday's budget sent out , one of fairness and hope while understanding that difficult decision must be made and ensuring that the voters realise they will be made with compassion and consideration. The Tories will promise ravaging cuts " to stabilise the economy" forgetting that its hard to stabilise an economy if your cuts lead to mass unemployment.

So there we have it, come away from the cliff edges, bridges and roofs, go back to your constituencies and prepare for the battle of a lifetime. I will meet you in the early hours of Friday June 4Th 2010 , a whisky in hand joining the "fat lady" as she belts out the Red Flag celebrating a Labour victory.

Labour's Budget Proposal

The Scottish Parliament has just voted to reject the Budget, the SNP at the moment are posturing and blaming everyone but the people who are to blame and Mr Swinney we mean you when we say that.

They have also said that Labour did not offer anything constructive to the budget negotiations well on that point i am cutting and pasting what Labour suggested the SNP administration could change the budget to help Scottish people and the Scottish economy.

And if anyone wants to know the email was sent to party members long before the vote took place.

So here are Labours constructive suggestions :-

Labour proposals for the budget

1.Apprenticeships – we propose an additional 7,800 apprenticeships over each of the next three years. This would lead to an additional number of apprenticeships over the next three years of 23,400. These apprenticeships would be split amongst adults and those aged 16-19.

2.Apprenticeship Guarantee Scheme – a clear commitment from the Scottish Government to an Apprenticeship Completion Guarantee Scheme, which matches the commitment in Northern Ireland.

3. Partnership Action for Continuing Employment – a clear indication from the Scottish Government for significant new funding to help retrain people who lose their job

4. Town Centre Turnaround Fund – Labour submitted a detailed amendment proposing the establishment of a fund to the value of £50million last year. We are now one year further down the line and in the midst of a global economic crisis. The need for appropriate support is now even greater.

5. NHS Funding – Health money should be invested in front line services. We seek assurances that the total NHS Budget increase of 3.9 per cent will be reflected in full in the award made to the health boards across Scotland on day one of the budget, not held back for pet projects

So constructive suggestions for local communities, Local services and local people shame the SNP couldn't listen.

A letter to the Tories

This is a letter sent out to Party members by [BFF of the Labour Club] James Purnell and Ed Miliband. It takes a few nicely aimed shots at the Tories callous disregard for the results of inaction.

[Underlining was added by me]

Dear [Nahuatl]

I thought you'd like to see the letter that Ed Miliband and I are releasing this morning about the impact of the Conservative cuts announced by David Cameron this week.

When it's cold outside pensioners need our help the most - yet the Tories are against our £60 increase for pensioners and are now proposing cuts equivalent to 32,000 of the most vulnerable households not getting the help they need to heat and insulate their homes through the Warm Front scheme.

It's the latest example of the "do nothing" Party refusing to give real help to the people who need it most.

We think it's important that the Tories' plans are widely known - so please forward this email to as many of your friends and families as possible.

Our letter

Dear Greg Clark and Chris Grayling,

We are writing to you because of our concern about the cuts you are proposing now and the impact they will have on pensioners. People would be dismayed to learn that you would propose to cut help for pensioners in these difficult economic times.

By opposing the Pre-Budget Report, your party has already set itself against the measures we are taking to help pensioners during the winter, such as paying pensioners an extra £60 this January, trebling the value of the cold weather payments that are being paid out now, increasing the standard minimum income guarantee, and an extra £100 million pounds allocated to the Warm Front scheme over the next two years.

Now your leader has announced a new policy to restrict the budgets for the Department for Energy and Climate Change and for the Department for Work and Pensions to a 1 per cent real terms increase for 2009/10.

“…maintaining the government's spending plans for the NHS, schools, defence and international development, but restricting other departments to a 1 per cent increase in real terms.” (David Cameron, speech on spending plans, January 5 2009)

This policy would be equivalent to cutting £80 million from the Energy and Climate Change budget and £30 million - on top of the £1.3bn cuts you have already planned - from the Work and Pensions budget. David Cameron plans for you to walk in and make these cuts immediately.

“Now what I would do, let's say there's an election April this year, I'm free, election April this year, I'd immediately instruct my ministers to go into their departments and say instead of the increase of perhaps 2% real terms you're expecting, it's a 1% real terms increase” (David Cameron, Press conference, January 5 2009)

Cuts on this scale from the Department of Energy and Climate Change would be equivalent to 32,000 of the most vulnerable households not getting the help they need to heat and insulate their homes through the Warm Front scheme. On average the help that a household receives in installing heating systems, insulation and other energy efficiency measures saves them about £300 a year. Unless you can confirm exactly where your cuts will fall, then these 32,000 vulnerable households could be denied the help they need. The cuts you are proposing, if they fell upon the Warm Front scheme, would also put jobs in the construction industry at risk.

You are already opposed to the additional help we are giving to pensioners at this difficult time. We hope you will reject David Cameron’s plans to do nothing to help pensioners and confirm where your cuts will fall.

Given the public concern about this issue, we have released a copy of this letter to the media.

Yours sincerely,

Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
James Purnell, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

PS - you can find out more about the Warm Fronts scheme here

Scotland and the Budget

Tomorrow the Scottish Government publishes its budget, the second of a minority administration and the media is asking who they will do a deal with this time. last year they went to the right, but then again that is nothing new for the SNP, so this year will they do the same again. They do seem to like to do the same things again as thanks to a blog I read it seems that Alex Salmond is going to threaten to take his ball away if he doesn't win the vote.

People are facing real hardships and the Salmond is on an ego trip, well that is nothing new that is for sure, I mean this is the guy who thought he was Barack Obama and told us all that he invented the "yes we can" slogan.

But seriously the budget is a major concern for the country, in this time of financial trouble what we need is our politicians to suggest a budget that will help us all and that will work for all the people and not just the few.

I want a budget that protects public services and not more cuts and more chance for the snp to say concordat and blame it all on Westminster, I want to see how they are going to build the new forth bridge and to actually admit that the Scottish Futures Trust was nothing more than a big lie and was never intended to actually do any large project management.

On the bridge, if I have got this right the SNP were asking the Government to allow the bridge to be built using money that would be given in 20 yrs time, now first of all that is like asking your mum or dad for an advance in pocket money but from some mysterious date in the future and how many of got away with that . Secondly does 20 yrs in the future mean that they are admitting that they are not going to be independent.

So to get back on topic please lets not have any games on the budget Mr Salmond and actually do what you say you were elected to do and serve the people of Scotland.