Just six weeks in power and the Tory government are so weak and divided that they can only survive through the treacherous support of the Labour Party.
This was the message hammered home by the vote in parliament on Tuesday night over the arrangements for the in-out referendum on keeping British capitalism tied to the sinking boat of the EU.
The particular vote centred on an amendment submitted by the euro-sceptic Tory MP, Bill Cash, to prevent Cameron’s plans to scrap the ‘purdah’ rules as part of his EU Referendum Bill. The ‘purdah’ rules set out a 28-day period before a referendum is held during which government ministers and departments are banned from publishing any statements relating to the issue being voted on.
The idea is to prevent the full resources of the government being brought into play on one side or another. When it came to the vote, 27 Tory MPs rebelled against Cameron, defied the government whip and voted for the amendment. They were joined by the SNP and a handful of Labour MPs taking the total number of opponents to 97. The vast majority of Labour MPs abstained.
The arithmetic couldn’t be clearer. With a majority of just 12, a revolt by 27 of his own MPs meant that Cameron faced certain defeat. The only thing that saved him was the absolute refusal of the Labour Party leadership and the vast majority of Labour MPs to defeat him. Their position was summed up by Pat McFadden, shadow Europe minister, who told the BBC that Labour thought it ‘was reasonable’ for the government to take a view on the referendum.
A more accurate analysis of Labour’s abstention was offered by the SNP leader, Alex Salmond, who issued a statement after the vote saying that Labour MPs were ‘sitting on their hands’ and that ‘Labour have yet again chosen to abstain on a key vote – they need to find a backbone and become an effective opposition in parliament’.
Salmond is completely wrong about his remedy– this lot of bankrupt reformists never had a backbone in the first place. All they have is an unswerving dedication to playing the part of a ‘loyal opposition’ – opposing in words but loyally supporting Tory austerity policies in deed. What they dread is bringing the weak, discredited government down. Why? Because to a man and woman, the Labour leadership’s loyalty is to rescue a bankrupt capitalist system at all costs.
The three main contenders for the Labour leadership – Burnham, Cooper and Kendall – all support the Tory policies of austerity cuts and caps to benefits in order to bring down the nation’s debts run up bailing the banks out of bankruptcy. While any real opposition to the Tories would seize on any opportunity to bring them down and precipitate a huge crisis for the ruling party of the capitalist class, Labour act as its sole support.
This is the lesson that has emerged from Tuesday’s vote – that the Labour Party is the main prop and support for a reactionary Tory regime that is hell bent on destroying the working class through the most savage cuts to benefits and the welfare state that has ever been seen. They stand firmly in the reactionary tradition of Labour leader Ramsey MacDonald, who in the 1930s joined the Tories in a national government which cut the unemployment benefit of starving workers, something the Tories were too weak to carry out on their own.
This is what the reformists of the Labour Party are preparing themselves for, to play the role of latter-day Ramsey MacDonalds joining a government of ‘national salvation’ to save capitalism and keep the working class from revolution. The Labour Party reformists are as bankrupt as the system they loyally serve. They must be swept aside and replaced with a new, revolutionary leadership prepared to bring down this Tory government through the organisation of a general strike.
Such a leadership will be prepared to go forward to a workers’ government and socialism. The WRP and Young Socialists are building this leadership – answer the reformist treachery and join today.
