What Kind of Dilemma for the Government over the Election?

The question of "to hold or not to hold" a May 3 election is perceived to be the dilemma facing the government.

Those in favour claim that 70 per cent of the Labour Party's MPs are in favour of a May poll, whereas there are those that have serious doubts because of growing concern over holding a general election during the foot-and-mouth crisis. It is speculated that this will also be the focus of the Prime Minister's audience with the monarch today.

It can be seen that the dilemma is not one of concern for the people's well being or how best to deal with the foot-and-mouth crisis that has spiralled out of control. The "to hold or not to hold" question is for the government an issue of what is advantageous to get back into power. It is hardly questioned whether this is a legitimate concern or not for a political system. The parameter of electing a party to power is taking as a given.

The dilemma in fact underlines the undemocratic nature of the parliamentary system in which the people are kept at the margins away from political power, while the cards are stacked in the hands of the government to manipulate the system for its own advantage. It underlines the necessity for the working class and people to build up their own forces to oppose the party system of government and work for democratic renewal.

The UNISON Health Care Service Group Conference opened on March 26 in Cardiff. The Conference is over three days. Rhodri Morgan, Welsh Assembly First Secretary, opened the conference. First he welcomed the delegates in Welsh to Wales. He then went on to explain the differences in approach that the Labour-controlled Welsh Assembly has had in implementing the NHS Plan.

The opening debate of the conference was on NHS policy developments, with a key debate on the NHS Plan. In the motion on the NHS Plan, the Health Service Group Executive welcomed what it called the reaffirmation of the "founding principles of the NHS", but it criticised aspects of the Plan with the continued reliance on the failed Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and the use of the Concordat with the private sector. This and other motions called for a UNISON campaign at all levels with a composite motion AA which called for UNISON to look into how it could coordinate industrial action against the transfer of work to the private sector.

During the debate the issue that arose was, should UNISON go much further in exposing and opposing the NHS Plan as part of New Labour's "Third Way" confidence trick, whilst it pursues its anti-social offensive in the NHS. One amendment to the Service Group Executive motion attempted to address this question when it pointed out that the conference should be extremely concerned that this Plan, while claiming to reaffirm the founding principles of the NHS, could actually fatally undermine the NHS.

At lunch time a deputation of around 50 Dudley strikers attended the conference. Hundreds of delegates attended a meeting organised near the conference hall to support the strikers. The meeting was addressed by Angela Thompson, who will be the Dudley health workers' candidate in the General Election. In the afternoon, the conference continued the debate on NHS policy developments and finished with a debate on equal opportunities.

It was announced by Tony Blair yesterday that within 24 hours Britain is to send 120 more troops to Kosova today to boost NATO forces and gather intelligence to help Macedonian forces track the Albanian guerrillas it is fighting. The reinforcements will operate unmanned Phoenix surveillance aircraft.

Tony Blair also told the House of Commons that British and Swedish soldiers already serving in the NATO-led KFOR force in Kosova would form a special 400-strong unit for quick deployment along the Macedonia-Kosova border.

Britain already has over 3,000 soldiers serving in the KFOR force of around 40,000.

NATO Secretary-General George Robertson said earlier that NATO would continue to step up security along the frontier.

What kind of security is being talked about here? For many years foreign troops have been deployed throughout the Balkans in a "peace-keeping" role, to combat "ethnic cleansing" and under other humanitarian-sounding pretexts. Two years ago, Yugoslavia suffered a savage bombing campaign under these same pretexts. This intervention has not only contributed to the instability of the Balkan region and exacerbated to breaking point the conflicts throughout the Balkan countries, but has been carried out for the control and assimilation of the Balkans within the Europe of the monopolies in contention with Anglo-American imperialism. No problem has been solved for any of the Balkan peoples in this period. Indeed, the troubles in the region can be traced back over a century to the carving up of the Balkans by the big powers.

All foreign troops must be withdrawn from Kosova and the Balkan region. Britain has no right to send troops to foreign soil to act in a "peace-keeping" or "security" role in order to intervene in what is declared to be Britain's interests or under the pretext of a humanitarian mission. The peoples of the Balkans must be allowed to sort out their own affairs free of big-power intervention.

Returning from the Stockholm Summit, to which he had cut short his visit to visit Devon because of the foot-and-mouth crisis, Tony Blair made a statement yesterday, March 26, on the meeting of the Special European Council.

It has been said that the EU leaders had been cautious about their contention over their interests within Europe at Stockholm. Whether or not this reflects the mood of the heads of state and government at Stockholm, the summit reflected a further dangerous step along the consolidation of the neo-liberal agenda for the EU powers. For example, in his statement Tony Blair said that the programme of "economic reform" launched a year ago at Lisbon had been taken forward, which involved "setting performance targets for the first time, benchmarking both between the nations of the EU and in respect of our main competitors outside Europe; and a massive programme of liberalisation in opening up our markets". It is this "massive programme of liberalisation" which the financial oligarchy is demanding, and which all the governments of the EU are following, whatever their superficial complexion, which is causing economic and social devastation and compromising the sovereignty of peoples. Tony Blair asserts that this policy is "even more vital for growth and jobs in the future" as "American growth slows". The fact is that as the impending world recession looms larger, the European monopolies are insisting on further "liberalisation" to remove all limits to their competition and penetration of markets. This is the significance of this massive programme of liberalisation.

Tony Blair is doing the bidding of these powerful corporate interests when he recites the litany of the Stockholm agreements: "to liberalise financial services" (which the "City and the CBI have welcomed"); "to open up the electricity and gas markets across the European Union"; "to reform competition policy and eliminate unfair state aids"; "to deliver a Europe-wide patent".

According to Tony Blair, the issue is "an efficient and competitive economy". But an economy in whose interests, efficient and competitive for whom? The Prime Minister obscures this question by giving a version of the discredited Thatcherite "trickle-down effect" theory, that this "efficient and competitive economy" is good for jobs and consumers. But these policies of "economic reform" if looked at with an open mind can be seen to be geared only to making the monopolies competitive in the global market and creating a European-wide haven for their operation in contention with the US, Japan and other blocs competing for world markets.

These European policies are consistent with the government's strategy at home, of "economic competence" and a "clear economic focus". Indeed, Tony Blair claims that this neo-liberal agenda is being led by Britain in Europe.

It is only the independent programme of the working class to stop paying the rich and increase investments in social programmes which offers a way out of the crisis, and the working class must strengthen its own independent movement for a pro-social programme as the answer to the neo-liberal agenda of the monopolies.

Britain and the US are blocking nearly $5 billion of contracts signed under the UN oil-for-food programme, according to the Iraqi News Agency reported on March 26.

The agency, quoting a Trade Ministry source, said that 2,167 contracts valued at $4.9 billion and signed under eight phases of the programme have been blocked.

Contracts on hold include applications for spare parts for water and sanitation, electricity, transport, communications and oil installations. The supplies also include vaccines and medicine.

The British government continues to tie itself to US imperialism in pursuing vindictive and genocidal policies against the sovereign state of Iraq.

The summit of the Arab League, meeting in the Jordanian capital of Amman beginning today, is expected to give support to the call to lift sanctions on Iraq.

There is broad agreement among Arab leaders in favour of lifting the embargoes, despite the efforts of the US to try and undermine Arab unity on this question. For example, the Minister of State of Kuwait, Sheikh Mohammad al-Sabah, has already declared, "We must break the locks of this jail to allow our Iraqi brethren freedom of movement and transport," referring to the US policies in the Middle East, in particular the banning of commercial air links with Baghdad.