Is Gordon Brown behind the curve in the push for changes to the regulation of global finance? In his speech an hour ago he called, to applause, for more checks on the way the city works - including caps on bonuses of individual deals and a new responsibility for bank board members. But in this morning's Unions 21 fringe in the Midland Hotel the Work Foundation’s Will Hutton and Leo Gerard from the United Steelworkers (the US union set to merge with Unite) agreed unions need to galvanise around 2 or 3 key ideas to change global finance - to remake globalisation in the image their members want. Their idea is based on the leverage the state now has on the banks bailed out by millions of dollars of tax payers money. Surely we should now have more of a say on how they operate? the argument goes. Leo Gerard said globalisation based on the current model of “no rules or standards” should be refounded. Will Hutton's big idea was that banks underpinned by the public purse should now only be allowed to lend to companies that recognise unions.
This conference has given the opportunity for influential people from across progressive politics to come together and start to come up new ideas for a different kind of globalisation. The aim is to turn the financial crisis into an opportunity to make the world more fair. The philosophy is that if things can change so quickly for the bad – could they turn just as quickly for the better?
There have already been calls from the US Democrat Party for a new global financial governance system. In Gordon Brown’s speech he called for measures that will only happen if Labour too embraces that idea.
The trap to avoid is ignoring the established policy making processes and make decisions that will down the line damage the economy and Labour politically.
Dan Whittle is a member of Lewisham Deptford CLP
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