In response to Chancellor George Osborne’s recent Autumn Statement, the Labour Party was deeply critical of the economic policies of the coalition, its swathing spending cuts leading to little increase in the country's prosperity.
The readjustments made by the coalition and the Office for Budget Responsibility to its predictions for the future of the British economy include public spending cuts until 2016 and 2017. Therefore, the economy and the recovery from a potential second recession will almost certainly be at the forefront of the every party’s manifesto come the next General Election.
There are, however, a number of different schools of thoughts for the Labour Party’s future economic policy. Curiously, they all seem to revolve around colours. Chief among these lie the movement behind the Blairite-leaning Purple Book and the more centrist Blue Labour group.
Recently, the Policy Network released ‘In the Black Labour’, a new strategy preaching fiscal conservatism from a centre-left perspective. But what are the differences between black, blue and purple and who are the key supporters of each movement?