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Ahead of the “Super Tuesday” Democratic Party primaries in the US this evening, watch this music video “Yes We Can” which is inspired by Senator Barack Obama’s presidential bid. It has been produced by Black Eyed Peas frontman, will.i.am, and film maker Jesse Dylan (son of John).

Commenting on ABC News on the video, will.i.am said of Obama’s speech (after the New Hampshire primary) which inspired the video:
“It made me reflect on the freedoms I have, going to school where I went to school, and the people that came before Obama like Martin Luther King, presidents like Abraham Lincoln that paved the way for me to be sitting here on ABC News and making a song from Obama’s speech”.

The video features Scarlett Johansson, John Legend, Herbie Hancock, Kate Walsh, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Adam Rodriquez, Kelly Hu, Adam Rodriquez, Amber Valetta and Nick Cannon.

Meanwhile, Obama was working New Jersey voters yesterday with Hollywood actor, Robert de Niro. De Niro said Obama was the “one person has given me hope, has made me believe that we can make a change.”

New research for the TUC published today reveals that the public purse loses £13 billion a year through tax avoidance by the wealthy and £12 billion a year through tax avoidance by corporations. Altogether this adds up to £25 billion - or around £1,000 a year for everyone at work in the UK.

The research, conducted by accountant and tax specialist Richard Murphy, is published in “The Missing Billions”, the first in a new series of TUC pamphlets designed to stimulate debate called Touchstones. The research includes the analysis of 344 sets of accounts from Britain’s 50 largest companies and analysis of HMRC and other official statistics.

Analysis of the top 50 companies’ accounts shows that their effective corporation tax rate is 22.5 per cent - not the 30 per cent agreed by Parliament. The companies almost always pay 5 per cent less tax on average than they declare in their accounts and in the seven years up to 2006 their effective tax rate fell by 0.5 per cent each year.

The report shows how super-rich individuals avoid paying their fair share of tax. £3.2 billion tax is lost by turning earned income into investment income (which is taxed more favourably) or by shifting the income to others (such as spouses) in lower or nil tax bands. Another £3.8 billion is lost moving transactions out of the UK, £0.5 billion by turning income into a capital gain and £4.8 billion from various kinds of tax planning.

Half the amount lost to tax avoidance could raise the level at which higher rate tax starts being paid by £10,000 a year, which would also offer significant help to those on middle incomes; or increase the state pension by 20 per cent; or reduce income tax by 3p in the pound; or build an extra 50 hospitals a year.

The Touchstone pamphlet calls for:

- a minimum rate of tax to be paid by all those earning more than £100,000 a year to limit their use of tax avoidance and tax planning, without affecting the tax rates of middle Britain;
- a stop to HMRC staff cuts so that there are sufficient resources to effectively collect tax;
- the non-dom tax loophole to be abolished;
- capital gains on assets held for less than a year to be charged to income tax;
- a change to the tax treatment of charities to give them more income and close a tax loophole; and,
- the introduction of a new ‘general anti-avoidance principle’ to make it easier to tax the super-rich and large companies.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: ‘There is mounting concern at the growing gap between the super-rich and the rest of society, but so far there have been few practical proposals to do anything about it. This TUC pamphlet is therefore doubly helpful. First it carefully works out just how much the super-rich and big companies rip the rest of us off by not paying their fair share of taxes. Secondly it sets out a practical set of policies that close loopholes, end abuse and starts the process of making the super-rich make a proper contribution - all without raising a single tax rate.

‘Our strong view is that the proceeds should be used to properly fund public services, where six million are facing cuts in their real pay, and relieve poverty - particularly child poverty. But you do not have to agree with our spending priorities to back our call for fair tax, and we recognise the argument at this difficult economic time for boosting the income of low and middle Britain through tax cuts.

‘This is not the politics of envy but the economics of fairness. It is all about getting rich and powerful people to understand they must play by the rules, not look for ways round them.”

Senator Barack Obama won the South Carolina primary on Saturday taking 55% of the vote to Senator Hillary Clinton’s 27%. Notably, he picked up a greater proportion of white Democrats’ votes than expected.

The Democratic nomination juggernaut swings into Florida today for the controversial primary there which, like Michigan’s, has been outlawed by the Democratic Party. Floridian Democratic delegates will not be able to take their seats at the party’s national convention as the state party is being penalised for holding its primary before 5 February.

Obama has not campaigned in Florida but Clinton has, and it is widely believed she may challenge the national party’s ruling as commentators predict the race could come down to the delegate count at the Democratic Party’s national convention in August. A candidate needs 2,025 delegates to win the nomination and it is estimated that Obama currently has 63 delegates, whilst Clinton has 48.

Yesterday Obama received a massive boost with the endorsement of Senator Edward Kennedy, the younger brother of President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who were both assassinated in the 1960s. Flanked by ”JFK’s” daughter Caroline and his son Congressman Patrick Kennedy, “Ted” Kennedy declared “I feel change in the air”.  He went on,
“With Barack Obama, we will turn the page on the old politics of misrepresentation and distortion.
“With Barack Obama we will close the book on the old politics of race against race, gender against gender, ethnic group against ethnic group, and straight against gay.”

Comparing Obama to his older brother JFK, Kennedy said,
“There was another time, when another young candidate was running for president and challenging America to cross a new frontier. He faced public criticism from the preceding Democratic president.
“That president, Harry Truman, urged patience. And John Kennedy replied: ‘The world is changing. The old ways will not do. It is time for a new generation of leadership.’ So it is with Barack Obama.
“[Barack Obama] will be a president who refuses to be trapped in the patterns of the past.
“He is a leader who sees the world clearly without being cynical. He is a fighter who cares passionately about the causes he believes in, without demonising those who hold a different view.”

Over 20 states vote in primaries and caucuses next Tuesday in a race that appears to be wide open.  You can watch Edward Kennedy’s endorsement of Obama below.

TMP readers will have been interested to hear that Helen Grant (right), a black, female lawyer was selected as the Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate in the safe Tory seat of Maidstone and the Weald last weekend. 

Helen Grant is highly likely to succeed the sitting Conservative MP, Ann Widdecombe, in the seat.  She is the owner of Grant Solicitors a specialist law firm dealing with the problems of family breakdown in London, Surrey and Kent. 

Of Grant’s selection, Conservative Party Chair, Caroline Spelman MP, said “Helen’s selection as the candidate for Maidstone and The Weald is great news and further proof of the changes that have happened in the Conservative Party under David Cameron.

“As you’d expect the calibre of applicants for this Parliamentary seat was very high indeed and Helen’s success is a credit to her and the local association.
“Helen has a high standard to live up to but I have no doubt she will excel.”

But controversy erupted over the weekend following revelations in the Mail on Sunday that Grant was only recently a member of the Labour Party.  Commenting on her past association with the Labour Party, Grant said,

“I have never been a member of the Croydon Labour party. I was a member of the Reigate & Banstead branch from mid 2004. I never attended any of their meetings, made no donations and did no canvassing or campaigning work for them at all. I have never denied my association with the Labour party and talked of it in a newspaper interview published in the summer of 2006.

Read the rest of this entry »

Despite a difficult two months, during which the Evening Standard newspaper has waged a concerted campaign against him and his advisors, and Channel 4 broadcast a “Dispatches” programme highly critical of him, the latest You Gov/ITV poll shows that London Labour Mayor Ken Livingstone has increased his lead in the polls over his Conservative rival, Boris Johnson MP.

The poll shows Livingstone on 44%, whilst Johnson – who is strongly supported by the Evening Standard – is on 40%, with the Liberal Democrats Brian Paddick on 8%. Notably the poll was conducted after the broadcast of the Dispatches programme which was widely reported.

A spokesperson for Livingstone’s campaign said:
“This is a welcome opening up of Ken’s lead, especially as Internet polling has always underestimated Ken’s support compared to actual elections and other opinion polls.
“The election for Mayor will be decided on the key issues of transport, crime, affordable housing, good community relations and the environment and Londoners will refuse to be distracted by nonsense and falsifications being spouted out daily in media storms from his opponents.
“Ken will run on his record and extending London’s success into a third term. He has already announced two new commitments - to extend the hours of the Freedom Pass to a twenty four hour service and his plan to extend student travel discounts - and others will follow on the environment, crime, good community relations, transport and housing.”

Meanwhile, Johnson’s campaign came under fire during the weekend amid charges of conflict of interest when it was revealed that his London mayoral campaign is receiving financial support from a controversial Japanese company that has clashed with Livingstone’s office over multimillion-pound plans for development in the capital.

The Mayoral poll takes place in May, later this year.

Senator Barack Obama (pictured left with Tyra Banks) is looking to regain the momentum in his pursuit of the US Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in South Carolina on Saturday, following Senator Hillary Clinton’s win in Nevada over the weekend.

Clinton won 51% of the vote to Obama’s 45% in the Nevada Democratic Party caucus. However Obama took 13 delegates to Clinton’s 12 in the contest. The delegates, who will attend the Democratic Party’s national convention in August, will vote on who will be the party’s nominee in November’s presidential election. Former Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards won just 4% of the vote and no delegates and Nevada effectively marks the end of his hopes of winning, though he has said he will press on.

In South Carolina, which returns 45 delegates to the Democratic Party’s national convention, almost double the number of Nevada, Obama has a 10.5% lead over Clinton in the most recent poll of polls. The support of African American voters who are said to make up approximately half of the Democrat electorate in South Carolina is said to be crucial to victory. According to some polls Obama won 80% of the African American vote in the Nevada caucus.

Clinton and Obama are to go head to head this evening in a televised debate and Obama has recorded an interview in which he has criticised Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, for the increasingly strident attacks former President Clinton (pictured right with Obama) has been making on the Obama campaign. In the interview which is to be aired on ABC television’s “Good Morning America” show shortly, Obama says:
“The former president, who I think all of us have a lot of regard for, has taken his advocacy on behalf of his wife to a level that I think is pretty troubling.
“This has become a habit, and one of the things that we’re going to have to do is to directly confront Bill Clinton when he’s making statements that are not factually accurate.”

TMP columnist Lola Adesioye, writing in the Guardian newspaper today, argues that integration and separation need not be polar opposites.  Presently based in New York Adesioye asks whats wrong with people choosing to live among people of their own race.  Noting the differences between the UK and the US, she says that:

“Londoners who visit New York are often shocked by the “segregation” of African-Americans and white Americans. In the US, people socialise and live within their own racial groups - according to one study, only 5%-10% of families live in integrated communities.”

To read her piece in full, click here.

Africans for labour is hosting a fundraising dinner and dance at the Holiday Inn Hotel, London Bloomsbury, Coran Street, London WC1N 1HF on Thursday 21 February 2008.

The organisation was set up to increase political awareness and to mobilise support in the African community for the Labour Party. It was established in 2006 at a time when the Conservative Party started to vociferously court the Black vote.

In recent months Conservative front bench spokesmen have regularly written for publications such as the Voice newspaper and have been seeking to build links with Britain’s Black churches. This prompted the journalist and Conservative supporter David Matthews (right) to write a article at the end of last year suggesting the Tories and the Black community were new “best friends”; TMP editor, Chuka Umunna’s response to that article can be read here.

The main speakers at the Africans for Labour event will be the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Commons, Harriet Harman QC MP, and the Mayor of London Ken Livingstone. Tickets cost £50. For further information, email: africansforlabour@googlemail.com.

The House of Commons International Development Select Committee has just announced it is holding an inquiry into the Department for International Development’s (DFID) programme in Nigeria.

Nigeria is one of the largest and most populous countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Despite oil wealth, poverty levels are high with over 70 million people living on less than $1 a day and one in five children dying before the age of five. Nigeria receives relatively little development assistance per capita (around $6) compared to the average for sub-Saharan Africa (over $20). DFID’s programme in Nigeria has increased from £35 million in 2003/04 to £80 million in 2006/07 and to £100 million in 2007/08. Nigeria is one of 22 countries DFID will be monitoring in relation to progress towards its 2008-11 Public Service Agreement Delivery Agreement.

The inquiry will look into, amongst other things, DFID’s support for the electoral process and to the National Assembly, the role of civil society and DFID’s support for the development of voice and accountability, Economic growth and the impact of DFID’s programme in this area, and Policy coherence in the UK Government’s approach.

The Committee has invited individuals and organisations with relevant expertise and experience to submit written evidence and is particularly interested in receiving evidence from organisations in Nigeria. The deadline for submissions is 8 February 2008. For more information, log on to the committee’s website at www.parliament.uk/indcom.

Seema Malhotra, Director of the Fabian Women’s Network, says that “our [British] political systems does – inadvertently if not deliberately – support the selection and election of men and white women”.

Writing in the current issue of Tribune Magazine, Malhotra argues that Sri Lanka and India have been blazing a trail in terms of female representation globally for several years now but Britain has been lagging behind. Pratibha Patil became the first female President of India in July last year, whilst the late Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka was the world’s first female prime minister, holding the post three times between 1960 and 2000.

To read Malhotra’s piece, click here.