Headlines
Is a Cross-Party Coalition the Answer?
26th February 2009
The news of the past couple of weeks has shown that Britain, and indeed the World, is in a very severe recession, writes Shae Courtney.
With unemployment now almost certainly higher than 2 million, falling tax revenues, commentators warning of the “greatest challenge to the British economy since the 1930s” and the collapse of another well-known store, Britons are beginning to wonder, “When will it all end?” Fear has replaced confidence in the marketplace, stoked-up by angry union leaders wanting increased government intervention, such as Tony Woodley, joint leader of Unite. Woodley last week warned of the loss of 6,000 jobs at an unnamed car plant in the UK if government action was not immediate.
The increasingly dire economic situation has given rise to understandable anger from redundant workers, increased trade union militancy and “Punch and Judy” politics from the Tories and Lib Dems. Perhaps the greatest asset Britain should now look towards is the ability for the UK parliament, in times of crisis, to embody an all-party coalition, as was the case in 1931. Whilst other nations, such as Germany, Italy and Japan, became increasingly nationalistic, the UK held “round-the-table” talks on economic policy to stave off complete economic ruin. Let’s not forget, however, that it was ultimately WW2 that brought the UK and the US out of economic ruin. We must, therefore, ensure that a similar fate does not occur and the government can do this by forming a cross-party coalition and taskforce early, which will pull the greatest minds from all sides of the political spectrum.
In other nations, such as the former USSR, Nazi-style youth parties have already begun to spring-up. Since 2004, Russian skinheads loosely connected to neo-Nazism, have murdered over 350 people. The economic downturn has led to prejudice against “Gastarbeiters” (industrial immigrants that come to Russia). Britain is acutely aware of the need to keep out extremism of this kind. On February 13th, the far-right Dutch politician, Geert Wilders, was banned from entering the UK after he said the Koran was a “fascist book” in his controversial film, Fitna.
Whatever the economic gloom in the coming months, the UK will have to be pioneering in overcoming partisan hostilities and keeping out extremism whilst balancing the budget and ensuring the recession doesn’t gut the nation’s economy.
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