It's time to put Policy back into Politics

The striking thing about contemporary British politics is the uniformity of the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat Parties, and the lack of debate in the Houses of Parliament. The coalition government is clearly running out of steam - three years after taking office, it's difficult to point to anything that has been achieved. Yet from foreign policy and health to the economy and education, Labour has been an almost mute opposition party. The next election is likely to be fought on the same policy-lite basis as the one before, with plenty of meaningless slogans and little substance. It is therefore refreshing to see real policy proposals being made in the campaigns for Germany's federal election on 22 September 2013. Labour would do well to look at the Left Party for some ideas.

Germany is certainly no panacea, and in many ways it suffers from the same political problems as the UK. The two biggest parties, the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats, have converged more and more, and political apathy is widespread. Election posters and placards have gone up all over Berlin in recent weeks, and most of the slogans aren't particularly inspiring. The liberal FPD claim they want "more courage, more market and more freedom." Empty slogans like bring the campaign mantras of the last British election to mind: "Vote for change. Vote Conservative." "The real alternative."

But the Left Party's placards are different. "For taxes on millionaires." "Abolish two-tier health care." "€1050 minimum pension." The placards stand out by virtue of their substance - the novelty of a coherent policy stings you in the eye. Here at last is a party which stands for something, and which has the courage to make real commitments against which it can be judged.

More than that, the Left Party addresses issues which affect millions of people across Germany today. The sight of elderly people rummaging through rubbish bins in search of bottles, which they bring back to supermarkets in return for 10 or 20 cents, has become commonplace in Berlin. Regressive taxation and an expanding wealth gap are major problems - as they are in the UK. While American healthcare is often lambasted in Europe, Germany's is rarely talked about. Health insurance from one of several state providers is both mandatory and costly, and is proportionately far more expensive for the worst off. Those who can afford it can opt for private health insurance, literally allowing them to jump the queue in the waiting room, in the two-tier system which the Left Party seeks to reform.

The Left Party emerged out of the remnants of the East German communist party; many still associate them with the Stasi and will therefore never vote for them. At the last election they secured 11% of the vote, but they refused to enter a coalition government with the Social Democrats. It's always easier to make great commitments if you're unlikely to enter government any time soon. Nevertheless, they are an important voice in the German political scene, and the British Labour Party ought to take a leaf out of their book.

Labour claims to be in favour of saving the NHS, but it's difficult to take them seriously when the coalition government is in fact continuing many of the policies which were introduced under Blair and Brown. It was Labour which pioneered city academies, expanded private finance initiatives and introduced tuition fees. Britain suffers from a chronic housing shortage, unemployment and a dire lack of investment in infrastructure. Yet Labour offers no alternative to Osborne's austerity measures, seems to have no policies of its own to combat unemployment, and shies away from criticising the coalition government's failures. What would Labour do differently if it won the next election? It's hard to know. Ed Milliband claims to stand for "fairness" without defining what precisely would be done more fairly under Labour.

If it wants to win the next election, Labour needs to produce some concrete policies on the economy, housing, health and foreign affairs. The example of Germany's Left Party shows what this could look like. It's time to put policy back into politics.