UK Politics

Five policies to save Labour

We head off for a week of camping next to the Norfolk Broads tomorrow – my first ever experience of sleeping in a tent. My wife is wondering if there will be somewhere to plug in her hair straighteners. I don’t know if we’re cut out for this.

So, here’s what we need to do:

  1. Scrap Council Tax and bring in a local income tax (i.e. steal the Lib Dem policy).
  2. Introduce some form of compulsory national/social service. 12 months military (non-warzone, obviously) or community service to be performed between the ages if 17-25. Dispensations could apply like they do everywhere else something like this works perfectly well.
  3. Make General Election day a public holiday but make voting compulsory (as in Australia). Labour would benefit more than any other party from compulsory voting.
  4. Scrap testing for 7 and 11 year olds and abolish school league tables.
  5. Hold a referendum on EU membership 6 months before an election. This one is dodgy, but I think membership would be safe if someone actually bothered to make the case to the public – and of course the Tories would implode.

Piece of cake.