Labour is paying a price for its elongated leadership contest
If Labour had the courage to oppose the Welfare Bill, together we could have defeated the Tories. pic.twitter.com/pBGCF2wFBL
— Liberal Democrats (@LibDems) July 21, 2015
The welfare vote abstention looks like a mistake
I was recovering from an operation last night and am only now catching up on the big welfare vote in the commons.
Labour’s abstention move does look like a mistake and was the product of the party not having a confident leader in place to steer the party through the mine-field that had been carefully set by Osborne.
As it is the party looks as though it has connived in helping the controversial changes go forward as others, like the much slimmed down LD contingent, are rushing to point out. These things get remembered.
The real problem is the time-scale taken to choose the new leader. This could all have been wrapped up in less than two months. Instead there’s another month and a half to go before one of JC/LK/AB/YC is in place.