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| Anthony Giddens |
| Just Carry On Being New |
| Seite 3 |
| Blair has said he wants a more meritocratic society. By definition, however, not everyone can rise up the social ladder. Aspiration has to be tempered with social protection for those who do not make it. And even a highly meritocratic society presumes that inequality of outcome will be tackled. If those who become prosperous are allowed to grow into a privileged class, meritocracy becomes subverted. That was the point made by George Soros and others in the US, when they protested against the proposal to abolish inheritance tax. But policies designed to improve the lot of the underprivileged are not enough. Labour must also try to ensure that elites maintain their social and civic responsibilities. The left's traditional response is to call for higher taxes on the rich. Surveys show that many voters are against such a tax rise, because it penalises success. And, as I have emphasised earlier, what counts most for the pursuit of social justice is the size of the tax take and how it is spent. If the top rate of income tax were raised for those earning more than £100,000 a year, about £3bn extra annual revenue would be generated - not much in the overall scheme of things. Other policies could be more effective. The rich in the UK, for example, give a far smaller proportion of their assets to charities and educational institutions than do their counterparts in the US. A recent study has estimated that tax breaks and other measures, used to persuade the affluent to give more freely, could generate an extra £10bn a year. And again, Labour's capacity to revitalise public services is vital, because elites will become more and more disengaged if public institutions fail. Labour has been criticised, too, for being over-friendly to business. Any effective government has to be business-friendly because business, after all, is the source of economic prosperity. But that is not the same as cravenly following whatever business interests may dictate. Corporate power should not be allowed to invade all aspects of our lives. Citizenship rights are not the same as the right to roam the aisles of a supermarket. Corporate responsibility should be fostered by a mix of incentives and regulations, and these must operate on an international as well as a national level. We should not accept that gigantic salaries in the corporate sector are the inevitable outcome of market competition. Rather, they are a form of price-fixing, with the rewards often bearing little relation to corporate performance. One of new Labour's most basic failures had been on ecological issues. That weakness has come back to haunt it in transport and farming. Blair admitted that, because the government initially had to concentrate on so many other questions, "environmental issues slid back down the political agenda". They have been placed much higher now, but without being properly connected to other areas of policy. High taxes on fuel, for instance, were only belatedly, and then rather unconvincingly, de-fended on environmental grounds. Finally, the new government should give special attention to formulating a model for the future of Europe. Blair made a beginning in his Warsaw speech in October 2000. There has never before been a coherent UK view of the EU worked out by those who favour it rather than by those who oppose it. It is important to have an approach that goes well beyond the issue of the euro, since it is far from clear that a referendum held within the next two or three years can be won. The new Labour "project" was about producing a lasting realignment of the electorate, by developing a wider coalition of voting support than the party had ever before enjoyed. Analysis of the election results this time will show whether the 1997 election marked a turning point in British politics. Was 1997 what the political scientists call a "critical election" - one that changed the landscape of electoral support? "Critical elections" in the past have shown common features. A phase of "dealignment" from previous voting habits is followed by a "realigning" election, with a subsequent period of consolidation. If such a transition has occurred - and by the time you read this, you should have an idea of the answer - new Labour's talk of making the 21st century a progressive century in Britain will not seem wholly fanciful. Anthony Giddens is Director of the London School of Economics, Editor of the Global Third Way Debate, Polity, 2001. This article was first published by The New Statesman www.NewStatesman.co.uk |