No, no, not him, I only put his picture there to give you all fright! What I wished to comment upon was the fact that one Ed has obviously just snookered another Ed. By making Ed Balls break the news that the Labour party now believes that the age of universal benefits has ended, Ed Milliband has demonstrated that he's in charge and what he says goes - and that includes Ed Balls if he doesn't toe the new party line!
Admitting that paying winter fuel allowances to people on high rates of tax is "A Bad Thing" means that they will have to admit that the government's efforts to direct other benefit payments only to those who need them is "A Good Thing". Whether or not it is 'Good Politics' or 'Bad Politics' will only become clear over time but at least it has brought Balls to heel. What the Labour party (sole prop. Mr. Len McCluskey of the UNITE union) will think about it we cannot be sure but the destruction of shibboleths always causes grief.
Master James Forsyth at The Coffee House sums it up thus:
The Labour leadership is hotly denying they’ve abandoned universality. But it
is hard to see on what grounds they’re arguing this. This provides an opening
for the Tories to offer a scaled back version of the welfare state that is more
of a safety net than a universal system.
Finally, I suspect that this speech has provided some political space for
Ukip. I’d be surprised if it didn’t go into the next election as the party
committed to protecting pensioner and middle class benefits.
Whatever, it is a delight and a treat to see Ed Balls eating his own words and trying to smile as he munches through them.
