Miliband vs Lucas

On the Andrew Marr show this morning there was a politician advocating "Saving the NHS, Fighting Austerity, Railways into Public Hands, Scrapping Trident" Well it could hardly have been Ed Miliband could it?

No it was Brighton MP Caroline Lucas. There is an advert greeting delegates to Brighton "Welcome to Brighton – Home of the True Opposition in Parliament. p.s. Labour is down the hill on the right”. I assume that the down the hill on the right is geographically accurate. It is 100% politically accurate.

Marr then attempted to interview Miliband. Oh dear. He has some good policies - scrapping the bedroom tax and "strengthening" the minimum wage. Coming on the same day as UKIP "sluts" made a complete pig's ear of their publicity the announcement of these policies on Saturday made a positive news story.

When pressed by Marr on anything, e.g. whether "strengthening" the minimum wage actually means increasing it Miliband said "we have made this absolutely clear." He said it at least eight times. Compared with Caroline Lucas' clear policy statements all we were getting from Miliband was fudge. And clotted cream fudge at that.

Caroline Lucas's bold approach to opposing the Tories puts "One Nation" Labour to shame. It is likely trade unionists and socialists will be supporting Green candidates when there is no alternative. The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition is that alternative. The Greens in local government in Brighton do not have the same chutzpah as Caroline Lucas nor do they have a consistent anti-austerity line.