The Tories are coming…

And it is the poorest who will suffer most

It doesn’t look good for Labour, does it?

No matter how much optimists (myself included) have tried to argue that all is not lost for Labour under Gordon Brown, the cold hard reality of by-election defeats and horrendous poll ratings continues to hit us firmly in the face.

The Tories look set to return from thirteen years in the political wilderness and form the next government, in May or June 2010 – barring some unforeseen event (Simon Jenkins has cheekily suggested a war). As I sit and gloomily digest the horrible prospect, in the midst of a recession, of Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne announcing savage and severe cuts in public spending, accompanied by cuts in inheritance tax for the richest members of society, I’m reminded of that stark and prescient warning issued by Neil Kinnock on the eve of the 1983 general election:

If Margaret Thatcher is re-elected as prime minister on Thursday, I warn you….I warn you that you must not expect work – when many cannot spend, more will not be able to earn. When they don’t earn, they don’t spend. When they don’t spend, work dies. I warn you not to go into the streets alone after dark or into the streets in large crowds of protest in the light. I warn you that you will be quiet – when the curfew of fear and the gibbet of unemployment make you obedient. I warn you that you will have defence of a sort – with a risk and at a price that passes all understanding. I warn you that you will be home-bound – when fares and transport bills kill leisure and lock you up. I warn you that you will borrow less – when credit, loans, mortgages and easy payments are refused to people on your melting income.

If Margaret Thatcher wins on Thursday, I warn you not to be ordinary. I warn you not to be young. I warn you not to fall ill. I warn you not to get old.

26 years on, Lord Kinnock’s words still ring true. It will, as always, be the poorest, weakest and most vulnerable members of our society who suffer most under a Conservative government – be it Thatcher’s, Major’s or Cameron’s.