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Labour's choice: neoliberalism or more neoliberalism

The leadership candidates are promising support for business leaders and “wealth creators”, suggesting a return to the neoliberal agenda of the Blair years.

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Labour leadership candidates Liz Kendall and Andy Burnham with former leader Ed Miliband, April 2015.
Labour leadership candidates Liz Kendall and Andy Burnham with former leader Ed Miliband, April 2015.

(Centre of front row): Andy Burnham, Liz Kendall and Ed Miliband. Flickr/Labour Party. Some rights reserved.

The weeks since Labour’s crushing general election defeat and the run-up to the party’s leadership election have been characterised by calls for major changes to its economic policy. Of the four candidates that will appear on ballot papers in the leadership contest, three have demonstrated at least one shared commitment in this regard:

“We can’t be set against the government’s recent cut in corporation tax for the future. Our rhetoric can’t be set against the wealth creators and drivers of our future economic growth. We can’t be set against business.”
Yvette Cooper