“I suspect there is real surprise, indignation and horror that they haven’t been a Labour government”
Lib Dem MP for Wells and Mendip Hills Tessa Munt told Left Foot Forward that her view of the Labour government’s performance over the last 14 months is that they’re “just not being Labour”.
“They’ve performed by being not very Labour,” she said.
Munt added: “I suspect that it won’t just be me as a political person, I think there’s probably real surprise, indignation and horror that they haven’t been a Labour government.”
Winter fuel allowance
Munt said that for example, on their winter fuel allowance policy, which she agrees wealthy pensioners should not receive, could have been handled far better.
She said: “My view would always be that if you’re paying higher than basic rate tax, you don’t get it [the winter fuel allowance].”
However, she said Labour has been “relatively inept” from a political point of view, “in that if you’re going to do something hideously unpopular, and having made the decision they did [on winter fuel allowance], to then execute a U-turn is madness”.
Munt argued “If you’re doing something stupid just carry on doing something stupid, because eventually the fuss will calm down. It doesn’t mean people will forget, they won’t forget, but you’ve done it.”
She argued that the U-turn, which means it will be partially means tested, and individuals earning £35,000 and above won’t receive it, hadn’t really made the policy any better.
Munt used to be a Labour Party member between 1989, and left when Tony Blair became prime minister in 1997.
The Wells and Mendip Hills MP said: “I think they have to work out who they’re working for.”
‘Gently shocked’ at Labour’s ‘authoritarianism’
Munt also said she was “gently shocked that they [Labour] are so authoritarian”. She criticised Labour for “lumping” white supremacist group The Maniacs Murder Cult and The Russian Imperial Movement together with Palestine Action in that parliamentary vote.
She said for the first time in parliament she went through both lobbies because she wanted the two right-wing white supremacist groups to be proscribed, but not Palestine Action.
Munt said she has two constituents, one who is 80, and one who is 70, who were arrested for showing support for Palestine Action.
“This is not the Britain I was brought up in,” she said.
She also raised the issue of carers and said she is surprised Labour hasn’t done more for them. The Lib Dems have ‘Stand Up for Carers’ campaign, which calls for Carer’s Allowance for unpaid carers to be increased by £1,000 a year.
“To me it’s really important to support that group of people, because it’s economically sound to do that as well as the right thing because we should care for our carers,” Munt said.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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