Fence Sitting
As the public sector unions continue to organise for another strike over pensions - Labour leader Ed Miliband is coming under pressure to make his views clear.
What would Labour do differently?
Which is a fair question since the coalition government's proposals are based on a report from an old friend and colleague of Ed's - John Hutton - the former work and pensions minister in the last Labour government.
Witness the following comment from Ed - about the unions' strike plans - in a recent interview with the New Statesman magazine:
"I'm not going to get into hypotheticals about strikes that may or may not happen.
What I'm going to do is say government has a responsibility to properly negotiate and they're not doing it and they've got to do it. The unions have to make their own judgement about what they do."
How's that for mincing your words - and saying as little as possible - while remaining firmly on the fence?
Surely a Labour leader should be able to tell the country whether he believes in in final salary pension schemes - which benefit the better paid.
Or whether he supports the introduction of career average pension schemes - which are fairer to the lower paid.
Maybe Ed will find his voice - if the unions do take to the streets.
What would Labour do differently?
Which is a fair question since the coalition government's proposals are based on a report from an old friend and colleague of Ed's - John Hutton - the former work and pensions minister in the last Labour government.
Witness the following comment from Ed - about the unions' strike plans - in a recent interview with the New Statesman magazine:
"I'm not going to get into hypotheticals about strikes that may or may not happen.
What I'm going to do is say government has a responsibility to properly negotiate and they're not doing it and they've got to do it. The unions have to make their own judgement about what they do."
How's that for mincing your words - and saying as little as possible - while remaining firmly on the fence?
Surely a Labour leader should be able to tell the country whether he believes in in final salary pension schemes - which benefit the better paid.
Or whether he supports the introduction of career average pension schemes - which are fairer to the lower paid.
Maybe Ed will find his voice - if the unions do take to the streets.
