Labour party ready for a ‘get tough’ strategy change

The Labour party (PvdA) is poised to adopt a new get tough policy towards deliquent youth with a minority background, the Telegraaf reports on Friday, quoting an email by the party’s top strategist.


The policy is outlined in a leaked email and has been devised by Pieter Paul Slikker over several months, the paper says.
The party includes ‘special attention for the problems caused by immigrants’.
‘To put it strongly: we are not going back to the time of multi-culti tea-drinking,’ the email states.
This would appear to be a direct attack on party leader Job Cohen, who was known for his conciliatory approach while mayor of Amsterdam, and was attacked by right-wing parties for drinking tea with imams.
Internal document
The Telegraaf says Labour MPs have refused to comment on the email, saying it refers to an internal party document.
Support for Labour has gone down in the polls since it took 30 seats at the last general election, just one fewer than the right-wing Liberal VVD which now leads the government.
The Telegraaf says the new strategy appears to be an answer to Labour’s inability to win the argument against the coalition, which is propped up by Geert Wilders’ anti-Islam PVV.
Cohen has also come under fire for not being a strong debator.

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