The Ten Commandments of The Selfish Left

Tim Montgomerie

He was elected by the trade unions. His party is funded by the trade unions and today Ed Miliband will march with the trade unions in protest at the Coalition's attempts to clean up the economic mess left behind by Gordon Brown (advised throughout by Ed Balls).

In today's Daily Mail Stephen Glover does a good job at pointing out the overall modesty of the government's spending squeeze - when put in the context of the Labour spend-a-thon since the turn of the millennium. "During these ten years," writes Glover, "the proportion of GDP eaten up by public spending rose from 36% to 48%, the highest ever peace-time figure." Read the whole piece.

Labour's expansion of government wasn't used to reform welfare or renew our energy and transport infrastructure but, in large part, to expand the public sector class. What we will see in London today isn't a moral movement, fighting for the rights of the downtrodden but a self-serving movement, determined to protect massive gains in pay, pension rights and perks. The gains were paid for by loans from China and by UK taxpayers in the private sector who have suffered greatly in recent years (and without much coverage from the BBC).

The Left's defence of unfairness is a much under-reported phenomenon. I do not know when it quite began but the Left has been deserting the moral high ground for some time now and on a number of fronts. Here are the Ten Commandments Of The New Selfish Left:

I don't say for one minute that many on the Left aren't caring but there are serious signs that it is a movement that has become detached from its early mission. This detachment is greatest in the way it defends public sector interests, regardless of their social usefulness.