These are the three priorities we need to fight for: Electoral reform, a Green New Deal and #MMT

Covid-19 isn't going away anytime soon. It may be around for many years. There may never be a vaccine. We, and particularly older and more vulnerable people, may have to adapt the way we do things permanently. The virus could be a feature of the rest of our lives. But there is another bigger problem - the climate crisis. As I write this, wildfires are raging in California and the Greenland ice cap is melting. Many climate experts think we have only a decade to take decisive action to prevent a climate catastrophe which will cause huge damage to human society and the species we share our planet with.

Oh, and there's another problem called neoliberalism. Wherever you look Western governments in the USA, UK, Australia, and beyond are busily prioritising the wealth of corporations and the 1% over the economic health and wellbeing of citizens. The UK government is busily handing out lucrative government contracts to its friends and private corporations without any tendering process. There is no attempt to even hide this anymore and the MSM is largely silent on this.

In the UK we have a pressing need for a change of government to one which will actually look after its citizens and the environment. One of the biggest barriers to change is our electoral first past the post system (FPTP). We are only one of two European countries - the other Belarus - which do not use some sort of proportional representation. We need electoral reform as a priority to represent the real will of the people and break the two-party stranglehold on our politics.

So, our three priorities now must be:

• Electoral reform - the introduction of a system of proportional representation (PR) for all elections
• A green new deal (GND) to combat the climate crisis and provide much-needed jobs in response to the economic contraction we are going through. 
• A recognition of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) by government and economists

Why is MMT a priority? It's because acceptance of MMT would forever nail the myth that taxes pay for government spending. They don't. Sovereign governments with their own currency like the UK don't tax and spend, they spend then tax. They can create as much money as they need to spend so the £300 billion bailout of the UK economy by Rishi Sunak is affordable, as is a GND. If you want to know more watch this short video by Richard J Murphy.

I'm a socialist. I've no love for the Liberal Democrats or Starmer's Labour Party but I'd be prepared to support a proper electoral pact Labour/Lib Dems/Greens in 2024 to get the Tories out and bring in electoral reform and a GND. We can't afford to be sectarian. Things are way too serious for that. The first step to such a pact is getting Labour to support electoral reform so I hope you'll join the Labour Campaign For Electoral Reform (LCER) if you are a member. Please also support Make Votes Matter. Real change has never been more ugent!