Peter Hain: Another Working Class Hero.

One of the most interesting  Welsh MP who did not Vote , alongside their Tory colleagues, to continue  the Austerity programme   for the next five years. was the Tanned One AKA Peter Hain the Member for Neath.

As Daily Wales Stated at the time.

The Labour Party showed exactly where its loyalty lies as 23 of their Welsh MPs voted in favour of the UK Government’s Charter for Budget Responsibility, with three abstaining.
All of the London controlled parties were in support as Welsh Tory and Liberal Democrat MPs helped vote through an estimated £30 billion worth of cuts to public services over the next five years.

So it was Interesting that the Tanned One failed to vote

According to Wales Online

Labour big hitter Peter Hain has issued a clarion call to his party urging it to abandon austerity and commit itself to a massive public investment programme if it wins power in May.

In an interview   as he publishes his new book, Back to the Future of Socialism, the Neath MP and ex-Cabinet Minister insisted there is no need for the post-election cuts being planned by Labour as well as the Tories and Liberal Democrats.
And he said there was a stifling orthodoxy shared by most of the mainstream media that there was no alternative to the austerity agenda that has resulted in huge public sector job losses and devastating service cuts.

 Now he advocates a £30bn economic stimulus package over two years if Labour returns to power.

Asked whether the party will do that, he said:

 “I don’t know. It’s not the party’s policy at the moment.
“But we have said that we will  borrow to increase capital spending and that’s the argument that I’m making. And the figure I’m quoting is backed by reputable economists. It’s not a figure I’ve plucked out of the air.”
'Investment needed in housing'

He sees house building as the most important element of such a package:

 “I’m passionate about the housing crisis we face, particularly affordable housing for people who just cannot get on the housing ladder – young people who couldn’t afford to buy their own place if they were living on low to modest incomes.

....“And then there’s all sorts of other infrastructure projects – speeding up the dualing of the Heads of the Valleys road, for example. There will be lots of things we can do, including renewable energy projects.”

He remains hopeful that the stalled , potentially creating tens of thousands of jobs, could be resurrected.

I bet he still hopeful  for the Severn Barrage project it may crate one special job for a special person


He continued.

“I represent a constituency which has got high levels of deprivation.“People are suffering in Neath, and they’re suffering in so many parts of Wales in a way that makes me so angry because it doesn’t need to happen.“And we’re going to have another five years of it if these policies continue to be followed.”

Yes he represents Neath and has failed those he has represented  time and time again.

Asked whether his views on the economy weren’t closer to those of Plaid Cymru, the SNP and the Green Party, all of which will standing on an anti-austerity ticket, Mr Hain responded:

 “The irony is that Ed Miliband as a Labour leader is I think more true to Labour’s historic heritage than we've had for a while.

He has the values, he has the policies and he has the analysis to create a Labour government that would allow our party to rediscover its soul.

So that's a No then.

It all goes to show why Hain abstained on the Anti-Austerity vote . If he had joined the vast majority of his Labour colleagues in siding with the Tories  the Launch of his new boook would have been met with accusations of hypocrisy.

Of course we can still wonder if Mr Hain wasn't retiring would he have refounded  his faith

Of course not there would be clarion call for an end to Austerity and he would have traipsed into the Lobby with the Tories .