Prime Minister Andy Burnham has ruled out a snap election but is leaving the door open to tax hikes, according to columnist Virginia Blackburn, who argues the moves reveal a Labour Party driven by envy.
Class warriors in power
Writing in an opinion piece, Blackburn says the longer this "dishonest, spiteful, hypocritical band of class warriors" are in power, the more obvious it is that what motivates them is envy, and they are going to crash the economy as a result.
She claims benefits spending is totally out of control, that the party is penalising anyone who has made any success in life, that it is becoming ever more expensive to hire anyone, and that net zero will bankrupt the country. She adds the crowd "would look like rank amateurs in a student union, never mind in government."
No snap election risk
On the decision not to hold a snap election, Blackburn says Burnham tried twice to be elected leader of the Labour Party before "sneaking in through the back door," and there is no way he is going to risk losing the prize now it is in his grasp.
She compares the situation to Gordon Brown, who people say could have held an election in the early, happier days and gained a proper mandate, though she notes recollections may vary and he might also have lost. She also recalls Theresa May, whose own election call looked set to return a massive majority but instead "nearly delivered us into the hands of a hard left nutcase who likes to hang out with terrorists."
A long wait for change
Blackburn notes that since Labour was formed in 1900, 126 years ago, the party has only been in power for 35 years, and says there is a very good reason for that, "as we are finding out right now."
She says she cannot understand why anyone would vote for the party, although she blames the Conservatives for the current situation, saying if they had not made such a mess of government, Labour may not have won, and if it did, not on such a scale.
She concludes it is the same old story every time the left takes power: they tax far too much, spend far too much, and it ends with a run on the pound, after which the Tories step in to clear up the mess. She says both Reform and the Green Party are not the force they were, and it is just a question of waiting, but it is going to be a long wait.
