Archive for May, 2010

THE LEADING OF LIVERPOOL

Friday, May 21st, 2010

Labour may be licking its wounds nationally following the General Election, but at a local level it regained control of a number of local authorities, including Liverpool. During the past forty years, I think I am right in saying that Liverpool has only had the same colour council as the national government on just one occasion. Our city is truly contrary.

This time it was the affable and able Joe Anderson that turned the town hall red again, gaining a remarkable nine seats from his Liberal Democrat opponents whose leader Warren Bradley, rather bizarrely, claimed that his party had lost because too many people voted! (Well, he actually blamed the ‘high turnout’, which amounts to the same thing).

Anderson has been quick to make his mark, with high profile announcements about appointing a business representative to his cabinet; working in partnership with the private sector to sort out the city’s housing crisis and criticising Liverpool Football Club for its failure to get moving on its new stadium plan. He will get to choose his own chief executive too, with current post holder Colin Hilton announcing his plan to retire the week following the election.

No doubt Anderson would have been more comfortable with a Labour government to deal with, but he has articulated his determination to offer pragmatic, rather than confrontational, leadership, and has emphasised his preparedness to work with anyone for the good of the city. Of course, during the ‘free Michael Shields’ campaign, the Liverpool Labour leader demonstrated his no nonsense approach, and was more than happy to publicly speak out against ministers from his own government when he felt they were not doing the right thing. And, perhaps most refreshing of all, Joe Anderson will be doing the job as council leader on a full time basis, bringing our city’s leadership in line with all the other core cities of the UK.

Anderson will also have a new boss at Liverpool Vision to work with. Max Steinberg, currently the chief executive of East Lancashire regeneration company Elevate, will succeed Jim Gill in July. Steinberg, a scouser, has an impressive track record in the world of urban regeneration, and is not scared to take a risk or two and, to use David Brent speak, ‘think outside the box’.

In East Lancashire he used the services of the late, great Anthony Wilson, and his partner Yvette Livesey, to produce a new marketing strategy for East Lancashire – and Pennine Lancashire was born. Steinberg has a hard act to follow, as Jim Gill can take a good deal of credit for the renewal of Liverpool during the past decade. His appreciation of private sector needs, and his determination to adopt strategy over short term planning considerations, has been a refreshing difference to the attitude encountered among the city council planners. Gill’s input into the revamping of the waterfront was particularly important, and he was a key player in delivering the greatest physical legacy of 2008, the Echo arena and conference centre.

So a clean slate in Liverpool, just as much as in Westminster – but Joe Anderson has a majority that David Cameron can only dream of. No horse trading, no deals or coalitions. Labour has a decent majority and will be hoping to deliver an exciting and innovative agenda during its term of office.

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HANDY ANDY

Friday, May 21st, 2010

One of the unforeseen consequences of the 2010 election result was that the Labour Party may be back in power much sooner than many people thought. The fact is, despite an unpopular Prime Minister, the biggest economic downturn since the war, the parliamentary expenses scandal and having had a thirteen year period in office, Labour was not, as many commentators had predicted, ‘wiped out’; and the coalition arrangement gives them even more reason for optimism long term.

The contest for the Labour leadership therefore, is of significance, not just to the party, but to the country – and Labour now knows it has a responsibility to conduct that contest in a mature and serious fashion, without the wild self indulgence that we may have been subjected to from certain sections of the party had the election result gone as badly as some thought it would.

The field of challengers looks interesting, with the Miliband brothers joined by Ed Balls, Diane Abbott and John McDonnell, the electorate.

The other contender is Leigh MP, Liverpool born and – very important this – Evertonian – Andy Burnham.

Burnham is seen at this moment as the outsider, with most bookies making David Miliband the favourite. However, I think that in terms of his ministerial experience in a diverse range of roles, including Chief Secretary to the Treasury, and his ability to connect to people in a very human and ‘ordinary’ way, will see him emerge as the candidate to beat.

Burnham always strikes me as a guy who, no matter how high he climbs the ladder of power, will never forget his roots, where he came from and the journey he has been on. It was telling that he launched his leadership bid at the People’s History Museum here in Manchester, and immediately spoke of re-connecting Labour with the electorate. He wants Labour to become the ‘people’s party’. If he wins, we may see one of our regions own in Downing Street sooner than we could ever have expected.

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TIME FOR ACTION

Friday, May 21st, 2010

Downtown Preston, in association with the Northwest Development Agency, Business Link, Marsden Rawsthorn, Moore & Smalley and UCLan, hosted the third annual Lancashire Business Week this week, a programme of events that included presentations and comment from some of the region’s leading decision makers, opinion formers and entrepreneurs. The events attracted almost three hundred people over the five days, and the feedback we have had from delegates has been extremely positive.
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Of course, what we promised was that the week would not simply be a series of talking shops. We themed the week around our ‘city thinking’ campaign and have committed to producing an action plan of ideas to those public agencies that govern Preston. It will then be DPIB’s job to lobby consistently and aggressively to see as many of those ideas implemented as is possible.
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The primary ‘mood music’ emanating from the week: A lack of civic leadership has let Preston down badly, along with poor co-ordination between the various agencies tasked with regenerating the city – in particular the two-tier local government structure is seen as a barrier to progress; Preston has a lot to shout about, but doesn’t do it loud or often enough. There is a real need for a more dynamic and serious approach to marketing and communications. Whatever happens with the Tithebarn inquiry, the bus station ought to be demolished. And, even without Tithebarn, there is so much more Preston can do with its existing assets, including the Flag Market, Winckley Square, the market itself, and even the museum. Finally, it is about ‘attitude’ and reclaiming the agenda from the sceptics and cynics and adopting a ‘can do’ approach to the challenges that lie ahead.
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We will be working hard with our partners to come up with a pragmatic, yet ambitious agenda for Preston’s future. If you haven’t done so already, get involved in the debate by visiting the ‘city thinking’ section at www.downtownpreston.com.
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Finally can I thank all those who attended the various events, all the speakers, and the other businesses who supported the initiative; Freshfield, GB Energy, the Write Angle, City Business Centre, Glovers Bar and the Marriott Hotel.

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SHORT TERM GAIN, LONG TERM PAIN?

Friday, May 14th, 2010

The Liberal Democrat leadership will be feeling pretty pleased with itself this week. A formal coalition with the Tories, which includes five cabinet posts and a commitment to a referendum on voting reform, appears, on the face of it, a decent deal.

However, on managing the budget deficit, Trident and immigration, three major Lib Dem policy planks during the election campaign, Nick Clegg has given the Tories a pass, whilst an open letter from Liverpool Lib Dem leader Warren Bradley articulated the thoughts of many grass roots activists when he basically stated that Nick had ‘sold out’.

The whiff of power, access to the red ministerial boxes and the opportunity to play a role in government decisions has been enough to seduce Clegg and his parliamentary colleagues, but it is hard to see how this brokered alliance can last beyond eighteen months – whatever ‘contracts’ have been signed.

The Lib Dem leadership may argue that, without a genuine offer from Labour, they had no other choice. This, however, is not the case. Their other option, and a better one in the longer term in my view, would have been for them to establish a much looser agreement with the Tories, allowing them to get through a Queen’s Speech and first budget, and then dealing with a minority Conservative government on a policy by policy basis.

Our new Prime Minister David Cameron has been accused by a fair number from his own ranks of giving too much away in the coalition deal, which has been described by some as the ConDem alliance! On the contrary, the deal enables him to accelerate his modernisation of the Tory party, cementing its position as a centre ground, consensus political organisation, and marginalising his right wing rump even further. Although the new partnership with Clegg may fall apart in the medium term, it is hard to imagine longer term damage to his party, however this coalition performs. The Conservatives were the clear winners of the election, comfortably winning the largest number of seats, and were duty bound to form a government. They can claim that they did the deal in the ‘national interest’.

Ironically, Labour have come out of all this in better shape than they had dared hope for six weeks ago. They were not wiped out, have a healthy number of seats in the new parliament, and have got rid of Gordon Brown without an ounce of bloodletting. They can claim that they are now the only genuine opposition party in the country, and they have an impressive line up of leadership candidates to choose from; David Milliband, Ed Milliband, Ed Balls and, perhaps, Andy Burnham. Personally, I would like to see Yvette Cooper throw her hat in the ring, but doubt it will happen.

Putting together a rainbow alliance of ‘progressive’ parties would have been a disaster for Labour. They had lost any legitimate right to govern, and the Brown government looked tired, out of ideas, and frankly, had run out of people too. Under a new leader, they can renew their offer; have great fun in the commons chamber baiting the new unholy alliance, knowing that they have a genuine chance of being back in office at the next General Election. They were expecting a long period in the wilderness. Nick Clegg may well have saved them from that.

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WELL HUNG

Friday, May 7th, 2010

After a month long campaign it will be a disappointment, indeed an anti climax to many, who awoke this morning to the news that we have no clear winner of the 2010 General Election.

Gordon Brown has demonstrated a dogged determination during his tenure at number ten to hold on to the badge of Prime Minister, and early indications are that he is preparing a charm offensive of the Liberal Democrats to extend his stay in Downing Street.

The main problem for Brown with this, ironically, is that Nick Clegg’s team hasn’t done as well as they, or the political chattering classes, had expected. Two million votes behind the Tories, and a bigger trouncing than his party suffered in 1979 won’t help Gordon either, and it is difficult to believe that a growing group of leading Labourites, led by the brothers Milliband, are not putting a plan in place to jettison their media ‘unfriendly’ boss at the earliest opportunity.

As for Clegg, he must be feeling like a Manchester City supporter today. Only a week ago, polls were signalling that he would lead his party to second place in the popular vote, and with it gain a huge increase in parliamentary seats. Instead, as I said in my last blog, the old adage ‘a week is a long time in politics’ came back to haunt him.

Once the leadership debates were out of the way, and the ‘vote for me because I’m not them’ message ran out of steam, media interest waned, as did the electorates. For those who did seriously flirt with a first time vote for the Lib Dems, a focus on their policies, particularly on Europe, immigration and tax, had them running back to the ‘old parties’ pretty damn quick. It will be a salutary lesson to Clegg, and one it took the Labour Party almost a decade to learn, but if you are serious about being in government rather than opposition you have to take on your nutters and ditch their madcap ideas.

So, a good result for the Tories then? Well, actually, no. Up against the most unpopular and unlucky Prime Minister in living memory (Foot and mouth, swine flu, the biggest financial crisis since the depression, umpteen plots against him, bigotgate and even a bloody volcanic ash cloud!) and a twenty point plus opinion poll lead at the turn of the year, Cameron should have been on the steps of Downing Street this morning with a comfortable majority.

The fact that he isn’t will mean a tough campaign post mortem, with many of his own backwoodsmen believing that Cameron has sold them out and then failed to deliver. The Conservatives have failed to make the breakthrough that they hoped and a very compliant media expected. The aftermath will be interesting.

For us in the business community though, political intrigue don’t pay the rent. Hung parliament means uncertainty, which will lead to an undermining of fragile confidence – and may also lead to another election sooner rather than later.

Who would you put your money on if that happened in, say, a year’s time? Cameron, Clegg or Milliband?

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