Frank Field MP and many others throughout the Party almost got the job done, as thankfully Gordon Brown finally had the sense to promise to compensate those poorest people losing out from the abolition of the 10p tax rate. Time will tell if they get anywhere near adequately compensating the lowest earners. People are right to be sceptical and we must be vigilant after this catastrophe.

A report on the 13th January launch conference of Socialist Youth Network, the Labour Representation Committee's (LRC) youth organisation, is in this weeks issue of Weekly Worker - the paper of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). It makes for interesting reading, though not perhaps for the Labour Party members of the LRC.