Time for a change? You can't have real change without fairness for all

POLITICIANS, from Obama to Cameron like to talk about change; change as in a far-reaching and positive (if rarely forensically detailed) break with all that is wrong with the status quo. Well, the forthcoming general election should indeed be about change.

During the greatest financial crisis since the 1930s there was widespread recognition that prevailing economic orthodoxies had failed and that the UK's "financialised" economy was in urgent need of a fundamental overhaul. How quickly the momentum for change dissipated.

It is safe to assume that no party manifesto will commit to further deregulation of the financial sector. But will any even recognise the pressing need for genuine reform, let alone detail concrete commitments for radical change? I doubt it.

The global financial crisis blew away many of the orthodoxies (particularly around deregulation and the role of the state), which have underpinned economic policy for far too long. Election manifestos should signal how the parties intend to create a new economic architecture; one that reconnects a strong, flexible economy to the living standards of all, not just to residents of the penthouse.

A range of challenges must be addressed. Of immediate concern are the parties' plans to support the recovery. Providing targeted support to those hardest hit by recession is not only fair, it will help to support demand. Investing in the economy is vital at a time when private sector investment remains so weak and, as the lower than anticipated deficit this year attests, such investment is likely to pay for itself.

But other economic challenges are longer-term and less high-profile. Those workers lucky enough to retain employment will face increasing levels of economic inequality and insecurity. Real wages for ordinary workers continue to stagnate, there is a widespread lack of faith in the current model of globalisation to produce fair outcomes in both developed and developing nations and societal pressures associated with the rise of a super-rich class continue to grow.

Specifically, manifestos should commit to a fundamental overhaul of the taxation system to render it genuinely progressive; we cannot persist with a system that sees the bottom 10 per cent of earners pay proportionately more in taxation than the top 10 per cent. A step change in the approach to evasion and avoidance is crucial – how long will the public stand for a situation when one-third of the top 700 companies pay no corporation tax?

Manifestos should build on recent rhetoric and include firm commitments to help rebalance the economy towards manufacturing. Strategic use of state aid and procurement to boost comparative advantage is a good place to start. The Budget commitments on green and SME investment funds should signal only the start of action to address long-standing structural problems with the provision of patient finance to growing firms.

Ideas on how to reach international agreement on emissions will help to lift the post-Copenhagen gloom. Proposals for further constitutional reform might help to reawaken our tired democracy which, unfortunately, is likely to reveal itself again in election-day turnout figures.

Later this week, the STUC will publish a Manifesto for Rebuilding Collective Prosperity. This, we believe, builds on the issues outlined above to point the way forward to an economic model that is stable, fair and sustainable; three characteristics the prevailing model manifestly lacks.

Our aspiration is that this provokes debate on issues on which the parties often appear wilfully ignorant.

Who knows, during the course of the campaign this might… change.

• Grahame Smith is the general secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress.