Right to buy?
By Emma.
A space just opened up for Labour. Not many people have noticed it, not everyone will want to capitalise it. But it’s there, it’s potent and used correctly, it could be a deadly weapon against the Tories.
That space is consumer rights. Thanks go to Steve Hilton & my mother’s mobile phone service provider for bringing it to my attention.
Sometimes the left can be a bit confused on consumerism. Fair enough, as it is a more confusing topic than it would originally appear. As an environmentalist, I know the damage that rampant consumerism can do. But even so, I’m not opting out. I still consume goods and services every day. We need to separate over-consumption which should be discouraged, from the rights consumers should have as they go about their difficult lives.
There are some businesses which do consumer rights very well. But there are some industries in our country where a handful of companies have a monopolistic grip on the market. Telecoms, energy suppliers, banks, rail companies etc. and I can’t think of a single person who is happy – or even just satisfied – with the levels of service received. Indeed it seems that unofficially these groups have realised that none of them have to raise their game if their competitors don’t.
This post in no way intends to denigrate the difficult and demanding job done by call centre workers here and abroad. They aren’t the problem. The jolly, polite and equal parts frustrated and frustrating people I talk to to find our why my phone bill has shot up or to try to help me navigate a trip from London to Wrexham get the brunt of our ire, but ate rarely at the root of it. The people who make the decisions about customer service, those who wildly shifted the emphasis from an offer of service to a denial of responsibility aren’t at the sharp end.
Labour needs to be careful not to stifle good companies – particularly SMEs. But equally, there is a real political opportunity for Labour to be on the side of the consumer. If we can work with Which? and the FSB together to come up with a practical, workable offer to voters and consumers, this could be extremely potent territory for us.
Tags: Consumer rights, Labour, Steve Hilton
Thursday, July 28th 2011 at 12:27
I’m tempted to say, “Well spotted!”.
And this article ties in nicely with the previous article about changing minds.
A point which I have tried to get across elsewhere, with no apparent success or feedback or acknowledgement, is my view that the Tories are on the side of big business – and against the best interests of ordinary consumers – while talking disingenuously about “fairness for the taxpayer” when it comes to public spending.
This Tory thinking sets taxpayers as separate from consumers. Seemingly. Yet I reckon that there are more than a few million people who are both ordinary taxpayers (with a local govt and public services) and ordinary customers (especially of the privatised utility companies). Thus, in my opinion, the Tories ought to be seen and portrayed as the party which favours big business and higher-rate taxpayers, only.