John McDonnell: Miliband will have to backtrack on spending cuts

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/03/john-mcdonnell-miliband-will-have-backtrack-spending-cuts

If, come May 8^th, Labour does form the next government it will not be with the runaway majorities it enjoyed in 1997 and 2001. No if we do form the next government it will be in coalition with the SNP, in my view. Add 40+ SNP MPs to the 40 Left-wing Labour MPs and this adds up to a sizable rump.

John McDonnell: Miliband will have to backtrack on spending cuts

John McDonnell, that rare thing in today's Labour Party, a Socialist MP, is of the view that given a win Miliband will be forced to backtrack on spending cuts. On this I tend to agree. 

I’m hoping a coalition with the SNP will mean we are pushed further to the left (how bizarre it is that it could take the party which until relatively recently was dubbed the Tartan Tories to compel Labour to do what it should be doing anyway). If it means we have to abandon some of the anti-worker and working class policies such as zero hours contracts, the WCA, PIP assessments for indefinite awardees, benefits sanctioning, scrapping of the ILF, etc, then so be it.

Labour has lost its political direction, and is in danger of losing its political soul. Somehow or other it must reposition itself to the Left and regain its place as the party of progressive politics; and at the same time regain its credibility amongst its natural core voters who are working people (past and present), disabled who can’t work, and the disenfranchised abandoned on sink estates with little hope for decent education or employment prospects – the second and third generations of Thatcher’s reckless neo-lib policies.