Sunday 3 February 2019

Transanctional politics has no place in a democracy.

I believe in ancient China, Emperors were advised that in times of famine they should judge whether a region was Loyal to the Empire or not.

If a region was loyal then food was taken from the disloyal areas and given to the loyal ones

On Friday I posted on the claim by the  Times,  that the government is looking at encouraging more Labour MPs to vote its way by offering money for deprived areas of the U.K. that voted to leave the EU. A government official said something on these lines is under consideration.
Labour response was as expected.


John Mann has urged the PM to "show us the money" with "transformative investment" in areas that voted Leave.
But the Labour MP, who backed Theresa May's Brexit deal, denied it amounted to "transactional politics".
Transactional leadership is a style of leadership in which leaders promote compliance by followers through both rewards and punishments. Through a rewards and punishments system, transactional leaders are able to keep followers motivated for the short-term.
Writing on the Labour List website, Mr Lavery, the former general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers and a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn, accused Mrs May of playing "divide and rule" over Brexit.
"If the prime minister wants to talk about ending austerity and protecting rights as we leave the EU, she should do so with the leader of the Labour Party and his team.
"Any Labour MP seriously considering discussions with the PM should remember her record and that of her party going back generations. Quite simply, taking such a bribe would be fool's gold."
John Mann, MP for Bassetlaw, a former coal mining area in Nottinghamshire, met cabinet office officials in Whitehall on Thursday and told reporters: "I want to see, when we leave the European Union, significant investment in new technologies, new jobs, science and industry in areas like mine and all the other areas in the country like mine.
"This isn't transactional politics, this is about getting a national fund ... the areas that voted Leave the most are the areas that have not had that investment."

 Asked if the government was trying to bribe Labour MPs, Chancellor Philip Hammond said: 


"No it doesn't work like that I'm afraid."What we are doing is looking at some of the drivers behind the Brexit vote.
"What was it that felt that made so many communities feel that they didn't have a stake in the way our economy was operating?
"And making sure we are investing in, for example, former coalfield communities to ensure they can keep up with the changes that are happening across the economy and that they too can share in our future prosperity."
But David Lammy, Labour MP for Tottenham, in north London, tweeted his response to headlines suggesting the PM was preparing to "woo Labour MPs with cash to back Brexit" saying: "Cowards and facilitators. History will be brutal."
And his colleague Chuka Umunna, who like Mr Lammy campaigns for another EU referendum, said on Twitter: "Government by bung is WRONG - whether involving DUP MPs or those from any other party.
"Funding should be based on the needs of the people not on the needs of an incompetent Tory PM to secure the votes of MPs for a deal which will make the UK poorer."
Certainly any Welsh Leave region who are under the impression that because they did vote to exit the EU will be very disappointed.

What is likely to happen is that many of those areas that voted Leave who are currently receiving EU funding will not find that it is replaced pound for pound  by the UK government .

The Tories have no need for the locality of the poorest areas of the UK , thir strength lies in the affluent areas of the South East of England.

Even the 1997 Blair Landslide barely  dented the Tory shires annd inded it was the Liberal Democrats who made the most damage.



UK General Election, 1992.svg
1992 General Election
UK General Election, 1997.svg
1997 General Election.
Those Labour MPs who are prepared to sell themselves , for a brief injection og government cash are deluded .

It is not my place to tell the Labour Party on how to react to this , but if these have not been deselected or lost the Party whip by now should clearly lose it.

1 comment:

Gwyn Isaac said...

Looks like Labour are going to deselect Chuka anyway now that Streatham CLP have adopted all member meetings in place of the committee system. And after the Miners Strike in 1984-5 Thatcher had mote respect for Scargill and the NUM than for the UDM which had backed the Tory Government in the dispute.