A GOOD STRATEGY?

Earlier I wrote about how the Danish centre-right parties have moved to the left in their economic policies, and worried about whether the Swedish opposition would follow suit, inspired by the good election results in Denmark. And with Liberal Party leader Lars Leijonborg promising a tax roof (instead of a much needed tax cut) this weekend these worries seemed well placed. And today, as Fredrik Reinfeldt, leader of the Conservative Party and head of the opposition alliance (though the other party leaders won't explicitly say so), wrote an article in Dagens Nyheter another step has been taken in the wrong direction.

In the article, titled (my translation) "We take LO's worries about lowered wages seriously", Mr Reinfeldt makes a serious attempt to impress LO - the biggest union in Sweden, closely linked to the Social Democratic party. He calls a report they've published "interesting" and seems to now seek their approval for his economic policies. I'll give him a small hint: he won't get it.

LO is the second half of the Worker's Movement in Sweden, the Social Democrats being the first half. The government funnels loads of tax money to the union, apart from giving them a veto on all important decisions, in return for their support come election time. It would be more than a little surprising to see LO, the worker's union, to abandon this incredible position of power - the Social Democrats has ruled since 1932 almost without exception - in favour of supporting the Conservative Party. Perhaps Mr Reinfeldt knows something that I don't. Or perhaps he's just making a silly mistake in an attempt to win voters from the Social Democrats.

What about the suggestions themselves? Well, they're generally about making it cheaper to employ people, lowering the Employer's Fee and making extra big cuts to the fee if you hire people that have been unemployed for a long time. They may very well be good suggestions, but they should be directed straight to the voters. Not to the union bosses.

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