Morys Ireland's diary

This month's local elections saw Labour's worst defeat for 40 years, the party finished 3rd in the national share of the vote - behind even the Lib Dems. Rather than dwell on what may or may not have caused the embarrassing rejection on the part of the electorate, where exactly does Labour go from here? Can the party dig itself out of this hole in time for the next general election?

Everyone expects the next general election to go right to the wire, but it need not. Labour can still reach out to it's core vote, but it needs to make sure it is actually representing those core voters in every single policy decision it makes. What is needed is not populism, but policies. 

The current economic crisis is hitting the less affluent hard, petrol prices and energy bills are rising faster than real wages and this is unsustainable. The government has frozen petrol duty, but this will not be enough to help many. In a time like this there needs to be a focus on redistributing wealth within the economy, the public want to know that their government is on their side. The introduction of a tax on large corporate bonuses would send a message that those with excessive wealth should help those not so lucky during a time of economic slow down. Clamping down on tax evasion and non-domiciles would send a message that if you live in Britain you cannot just take from our society, but must give something back too.

The government needs to take firm action with mortgage lenders who are all to quick to repossess homes instead of coming to reasonable agreements with home owners. If oil prices continue to rise sharply then the government will have to consider lowering the tax on petrol and forcing oil companies to pass the price drop on to consumers. Just being on the side of ordinary people in these matters will help renew trust in Labour.

On other fronts, the reform of the House of Lords needs to be speeded up and Labour need to come through on the side of democracy by making the Lords at least 80% elected. We also need complete transparency in terms of MP's expenses. These things would bring our democracy into the 21st century. The government needs to come out on the side of students and prevent higher education from being opened up to the free market in the 2009 review. These are just some of the policies that could be implemented to set Labour apart from the other two main parties.

For those of you that think "who cares" or "I hope Labour do lose next time, that would show them" or even "why should I vote Labour, they're the party of big business"  have a long hard think about who you would rather have running the country; be sure that there is a straight choice: Labour or the Conservatives. Look at the achievements, and yes, the failings of the past 11 years and think about what those 11 years would have been like under a Tory government: no minimum wage, no paternity leave, no tax credits, no writing off of 3rd world debt, no winter fuel allowance for pensioners, no rights for part-time workers, no free TV licenses for the elderly, no ban on cosmetics testing on animals, no free eye tests or free bus travel for the over 60s, no free entry to national museums... 

We all know who the real party of big business is.