Labour ain't red

That's what the Alliance is saying in this commentary on the government Helen Clark has just cobbled together. Sounds fair enough to me. The de facto coalition with Peters and Dunne will set a right-wing trajectory for Labour's third term, ruling out any improvements to industrial relations legislation or other union-friendly measures. The Greens are whinging about being left out in the cold, but they will able to resposition themselves further to the left of Labour, and pick up voters unhappy with the influence of Peters and Dunne over the new government. Depending on how far Labour moves to the right, and how much the economy slows down, they may even win a few unions away from Labour. With these opportunities for the Greens, I don't like the prospects of the Alliance, or any new party attempting to win working class support on the basis of a left social democratic programme. All a bit depressing really, isn't it? Venezuela it certainly ain't...