Smith Square Review – Friday 25th April

Gordon Brown made a statesmanlike speech on Tuesday in Glasgow which was in support of the Better Together campaign. The Better Together campaign is in favour of Scotland remaining in the United Kingdom. This is the first time that the former Prime Minister has been involved in the campaign, which has primarily been fronted by Labour political heavyweight , Alistair Darling.  Mr Brown remains a popular and respected figure within Scotland despite a contentious tenure as Prime Minister.

Brown outlined the key benefits for Scotland remaining in the United Kingdom from a document produced by the Department for Work and Pensions.  He stated that there are “five big positives” for Scotland remaining in the United Kingdom. These were secure state pensions, increased NHS spending, protection of 600,000 jobs that are dependent on UK trade, low interest rates and the close cultural ties that Scotland shares with the rest of United Kingdom.

There were some members of the press and the SNP who were quick to quip that Mr Brown wasn’t really in a position to discuss poor pension policy after overseeing a pension crisis in the United Kingdom. It has put to bed rumours that Mr Brown wasn’t willing to actively participate in the debate on the referendum due to an alleged on-going feud with former Chancellor, Alistair Darling. Mr Brown frequently referred to Great Britain rather than the United Kingdom in his speech. Some analysts have suggested that this is a tactic deployed because it doesn’t use the same terminology as other pro union politicians, especially the Conservative Party. Or to give it it’s full title the Conservative and Unionist Party.

The Labour Party’s ninety four year relationship with the co-op bank is coming to an end it was announced yesterday.  The co-op bank and Labour Party’s divorce means that the Party will be moving their loans to Unity Trust Bank. The board at Unity Trust Bank consists of union heavyweights, David Prentis and Billy Hayes.

It’s been a turbulent year for the co-op. Their former Chairman, Reverend Flowers, gave a dismal performance in front of the Treasury Select Committee, his period as Chairman is now over and was this month charged with alleged drug related offences. On top of this they reported losses of £2.5bn for 2013.

There are over 30 co-op Labour MPs. It is still unclear whether the co-op group will continue to be large donors to the party following this move.  This all follows a stressful few months for the Labour Party’ s finance team as donations from certain Trade Union groups are no longer guaranteed either.

Chancellor George Osborne and PM David Cameron were jointly unleashed on a UK audience for the first time in four years on Tuesday.

Speaking before construction workers at the Hereford Skanska office, the pair announced £36bn of infrastructure investment and the creation of thousands of UK jobs.

The episode has been interpreted as indicative of growing Tory confidence on the economy. Previously they had not shared a platform because there was a perception that they were both posh and this didn’t help the public’s image of the Tory party. Indeed, vast family wealth, public school boy accents and tales of the Bullingdon Club were to be snuffed out at a time of national austerity and general economic doom.

Yet as wages nose past inflation it was finally deemed safe for the pair to venture out into the public domain- hurrah! This economy fuelled Tory resurgence is of course bad news for Labour, as the broken record ‘cost of living crisis’ may fall on increasing deaf ears ahead of the 2015 general election.

After a week of literal and metaphorical finger pointing, the EU elections are starting to heat up. On the back of some ‘challenging’ advertorial that even the Home Office would be proud of, UKIP have taken to the billboards in the run up to the European Parliament elections (22 May).

Nigel Farage has defended a new immigration-centred poster campaign as “a hard-hitting reflection of reality.” The Deputy Prime Minister, and Liberal Democrat Leader, Nick Clegg has branded the adverts as playing to“fears and falsehoods.”

Mr Clegg, launching the LibDem offensive, added that he saw UKIP’s plans to leave the EU as a“dangerous fantasy” which would cost British jobs. The Deputy Prime Minister, who served as a member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2004, was particularly critical of the Labour and Conservative parties for having gone “missing in action” on the EU debate.

However, Mr Farage was taken to task recently for his own piece of European integration. Nick Robinson, the BBC’s political editor, asked the UKIP leader about his decision to employ his German wife as his taxpayer funded PA. Mr Farage responded with the profound insight “nobody else could do that job,” the SSR thinks he’s probably right.

On Monday the HS2 Bill will finally be debated by MPs and a vote on the key principles of the Bill will take place on Tuesday evening.