In 1994 I was re-elected to the European Parliament by the voters of the North Nottinghamshire and Chesterfield constituency. At that time the Labour Party manifesto, Make Europe Work for You, was drafted in the spirit of the Party leader, John Smith. Unfortunately, John Smith died during this campaign and Party policy subsequently underwent a dramatic transformation.
The manifesto pledged newly-elected MEPs to pursue a co-ordinated policy to promote investment, growth and employment. Following proposals in my own pamphlet, For a European Recovery Programme, it promised to work for the creation of a European recovery fund to generate new jobs. Further, it promised “the effective application of regulations in all countries in order to ensure that industry is not disadvantaged by unfair competition.”
My constituency has very high unemployment caused mainly, but not entirely, by the closure of coal mines in a veritable purge of the industry following the miners’ strike. The people endure all the pains of mass unemployment, poverty, indebtedness and loss of hope. The increasingly frail fabric of the welfare state is all that many can rely on for survival.
The reversal of Labour Party policies has brought no alleviation of misery. In some ways the pain has actually been intensified. Cuts in welfare spending have so far fallen on the poor and resources for redevelopment have not been forthcoming. In Europe, the Government has opposed some of the key commitments of left-wing governments and parties, to create jobs and restore social cohesion. This evolution has caused great distress to many Party members, myself included.
Following the latest reductions in single parent benefit and the renewed assault on invalidity and other payments, I find myself excluded from the Labour Party in England, the European Parliamentary Labour Party, and the Socialist Group in the European Parliament.
Naturally, I am very sad to be separated from old companions and friends. I have spent more than forty years in the Labour Party and have not sought any other political home. I have many friends in the Socialist Group and am indebted to them for allowing me to try to translate Labour’s 1994 manifesto into an agreement of the whole European Parliament, in 1994 and 1995 reports. I am profoundly grateful for the support given to the initiative which I and others undertook, the first European Convention for Full Employment. Almost 1000 people, many themselves unemployed, participated in a remarkable exchange of experience and ideas. This work established close and harmonious working relations between three of the major left-wing European Parliament groupings: the Socialists, the Confederal Left and the Greens. It strengthened my conviction that democracy in 21st century Europe will depend on the growing together of these forces, to expand the social dimension, and uphold human rights. I shall continue to work for closer co-operation and convergence between these currents of thought.
I am not allowed to sit in the Socialist Group without the express permission of Tony Blair. I shall sit adjacent to my Socialist comrades, in the Confederal Left group, which has offered me sympathy, moral support, and hospitality. Both Hugh Kerr and I will sit as Independent Labour members, and continue to work together on British issues, most notably, the defence of the welfare state.