What's the difference between Labour in opposition and Labour in government ?

Back in 1994 I was agent for the Liberal Democrats in what was termed an "unwinnable" by-election for the vacant Tory seat of Reedham on Broadland District Council. The Lib Dems did actually win, but Labour ran some effective campaigns, particularly the rolling petition they were doing to save rural post offices. Yes, "Only Labour can be relied upon to save local Post Offices" was their bold claim, and this message found a resonance with the electorate that we only overcame be finding a more important issue (Labour didn't really that people had fresh water shrimps coming out of their taps and the Lib Dem petition on this issue, which was succesfully followed up by action from Anglian Water, saw the Lib Dems win by 17 votes).

Whatever the result though, Labour made a bold claim which clearly voters wanted to hear in rural Norfolk.

A few months later I went to University and grabbed a poster from the Labour Students stand at the Fresher Fayre, with a picture of Ken Clarke on it with the headline "This fat bloke just ate my grant", with the tag line underneath that "Kenneth Clarke's budget will mean student grants are cut 10% each year for three years.

You can see the poster below which for some reason I kept, perhaps aware even then that it would highlight Labour's hypocrisy in the future.

Of course, Labour were at the time in opposition, and again like Post Offices, they were claiming that they would defend people from the "evil Tories".

The problem is that in government, Labour have now closed 5,000 Post Offices after today's announced closures, beating the Tories 3,500 during their 18 years in office. And for students, Labour turned out to be even worse than the Tories. Far from a 10% cut in grants each year that the Tories gave us, Labour abolished it completely.

So what is the difference between Labour in government and Labour in opposition. Well its a world of difference, but its a difference that any opposition party ought to take note of. Labour hinted they were different and in some cases promised to be better able than the Tories to prevent cuts, to halt closures and to defend the things that people cared about. But in truth events in recent days, like the Post Office closures that the Labour party, when in opposition, campaigned against, show that there is a real danger, a cancer in British politics, that means that party's desperate attempts to get elected means that they will promise what they know they cannot deliver.

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