Does Labour perhaps have the answer?

Has anyone else actually tried reading the manifestos before a general election? Nightmare stuff. And I’ve still to look at the Tories who – when one clicks on the first download button – just give you the introduction.

So, Labour: the longest at 97 pages* and – as when they nominated Corbyn as leader – something that asks us to look seriously at the alternative to the Thatcher/Blair consensus that’s been the received wisdom of the last thirty five years.

From a Brexit point of view, this manifesto says very little – I get the impression that they don’t care much about it, one way or the other, and their only reason for including it is to keep the votes of Brexiteers. Most of what they say amounts to continuing with the EU outside the EU – fair rules on immigration, minimising barriers to trade, keeping existing protections of workers’ rights. They spend only eight pages on it in the manifesto and “reject ‘no deal’ as a viable option.”

For the rest, all except fifteen pages is about promises to dedicate resources: to citizens rights (26 pages, workers – 6, social security – 4, housing – 5, devolution – 5, diversity – 6) leading richer lives (13 pages on local services, transport, the environment, animal welfare, culture, media and  sport), education (9  pages), the NHS, Security Services and Foreign Policy (8 pages each).

Fifteen pages go to the economy. There are proposals on investment in education, transport, sustainable energy, broadband infrastructure and the regions. There are tax breaks for small businesses and (in the workers’ rights section) a 20:1 maximum pay ratio in the public sector and in companies bidding for public contracts.

The big departure is the increase in state participation in the economy with ‘public ownership’ of rail, energy and water supplies and restructuring of the creation of a national investment bank based, by the look of it on the publicly owned part of RBS.

What about voting for Labour, then? A lot of what they propose, everyone would want to have and a lot of it is in the other manifestos as well. What’s not to like about education, security, living better, the NHS and so on? They also promise a much more cautious approach to Brexit than the Tories.

The big risk, on the other hand is the bet on the state to run the economy. We know this is possible in theory because Mrs Thatcher proved it. When faced with clear, unambiguous objectives, the managers of publicly owned businesses in the run-up to privatisation showed they could be as efficient as anyone else.

In practice, unfortunately, this seems unlikely to be how things will work out. Under public ownership, in the sixties and seventies, the difficult decisions necessary to remain competitive were impossible. Too many vested interests were in play and the political process never managed to resolve them in time. The small pains of gradual change were avoided until the catastrophe of the Thatcher Tory regime became inevitable.

Also, they are not clear what the future of Britain’s international financial services industry would be.  Financial Services exports accounts for some 13% of GDP (2014 numbers) and restructuring to focus on domestic banking might impact that.

To sum up, then, lots of attractive promises, a slightly less gung-ho approach to Brexit and a significant risk of having politicians strangle industry. Will it be a good idea to vote Labour this week?

* Net of covers, table of contents etc.