Labour (ing) under a misapprehension

12.04.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 25th Sep 2008

Once upon a time you knew exactly where you stood with Labour. It had principles and it stood for reducing the gap between the Haves and the Have Nots of this world.

The striking thing is that in over ten years of Labour Government, the gap between the rich and the poor has actually widened as both recent Labour Leaders have studiously courted Margaret Thatcher and followed her doctrines.

Labour has let rip with the market economy, gained kudos in the good years while the balloon steadily inflated, but they've been left with large dollops of hubris all over their face when that balloon shattered so spectacularly last week along with the hopes and dreams of a disenchanted electorate.

In Lambeth, the Labour leadership switched effortlessly from Blair to Brown but must be wondering now if such eagerness for 'a safe pair of hands' was misplaced.

And Lambeth Labour's self-styled and new-found authority for financial rectitude is coming distinctly unglued as millions are uncovered being wasted on empty homes, empty offices and even emptier promises.

The only things that Labour has been good at is charging motorists extortionately and extracting more and more money from hapless council tenants who have no choice but to pay through the nose for distinctly third rate services.

Heaven help you if you are a council tenant who runs a car!

Where and what are Labour's values today? Sting the poor to help the rich. That's their motto now. Then all the even richer rich may give some of their ill-gotten gains to - well yes - the Labour Party. They know where their ciabatta's buttered.

It's what Margaret Thatcher called the Trickle Effect. But even she thought some of it should go to the poor.

Lambeth Labour prefers a drip to a trickle ( and we will not make any unkind analogies to anyone here ) but the steady drip, drip over the past two and a half years that everyone has endured from Labour has been all one way.

More Council Tax. More rent rises. More Service Charges. More Home Care Charges. More heating bills. More charges for communal lighting. More parking fine income. More charges just to leave a car in the street on on an estate. More waste. More Cabinet Members salaries. More consultants. More, More More.

No wonder so many people are now wondering why on earth they need Labour any more.