The curse of the undead parrot

So the Liberal Democrats have released their manifesto. If you want to know what they won't do if they are in government after May, wags might add, read it.

Because of their two-faced jumping into bed with the Tories and, in particular, their back-tracking on their promise not to raise tuition fees, the LibDems are on target for electoral homicide next month. Never the less, if polls are to be believed they might hang onto about twenty seats, and in a tight parliament, that is enough for them to be potential power-brokers. Nick Clegg, who, morally backward engineer of human misery as he might be, is not stupid realises this. Hence his jaw-droppingly arrogant claim that the LibDems will be "the heart of Tory-led government or the head of a Labour-led one". The reference is to the Wizard of Oz, which - you may recall - is a story about deceipt.

The LibDems have said that they will prioritise five policies in any deal:

• A £12,500 personal tax allowance.
• •A balanced budget on current spending by 2017-18 which would be achieved “fairly”.
• •£8bn extra spending for the NHS including equal status for mental health.
• •A real terms increase in education department spending in line with increase in pupils by 2020.
• •Five green laws including decarbonisation of electricity.

The second pledge is the one that rings alarm bells. The LibDems want zero current spending deficit two years earlier than Balls' - already in my view unobtainable - target  this spells souped-up austerity and, as the economy teeters on the edge of deflation, serious consequences for jobs and wages. 

The danger is that the LibDems on the basis of this commitment will be the favoured coalition partners of the Labour right, who will be strong in the next PLP (although, hopefully, a little less so than last parliament). Government alongside the LibDems would cement Ed Balls' austerity-lite economic strategy, and provide a basis on which to sideline the left.

We need to say now that the LibDems are not a coalition partner. Email your Labour PPC and let them know your feelings. And, if you're able, attend the post-election Left Platform. The message there has to be clear. If Labour needs to talk to someone after the election, we should talk to the SNP.