Once upon a time, there was an organisation called the Labour Party that when in government might, if enough pressure was exerted by the trade unions, use the state’s powers to curb the worst excesses of capitalism or protect jobs that were threatened when major firms collapsed. Those days have well and truly gone. The reaction of the New Labour government – as well as that of the trade union leaders - to the bankruptcy of the MG Rover car firm shows how much things have changed under the impact of corporate-driven globalisation.

This government has basically washed its hands of responsibility for the 6,000 jobs at the plant plus the many more who work for suppliers. As for the union leaders, they have gone like lambs to the slaughter, making no call whatsoever for government intervention and failing to mobilise their members in any meaningful way. In fact, Tony Woodley, the leader of the Transport and General Workers’ Union has provided ministers with a cover by claiming that they had done everything possible to save the firm!

For Blair and Brown, the demise of MG Rover is ultimately the outcome of the laws of the capitalist market economy. There are too many car producers globally, the market says, and only the fittest survive through mergers and partnerships. MG Rover was never in the running, with its management preferring to loot and transfer assets rather than develop new models. Their actions led the Financial Times – not the government, note – to describe the directors as the “unacceptable face of capitalism”.

The role of New Labour and the market state it has helped bring into being is primarily to facilitate the running of the global capitalist economy. In this way, it acts as the UK enforcer for the World Trade Organisation and the European Union. Under EU rules, state aid for ailing companies is explicitly forbidden on the grounds that it distorts the function of markets and harms competition. New Labour endorses this position and thus limited its actions to trying to help fix a deal with a Chinese state-owned car company. When that fell through, it cynically decided to fund workers’ wages in a desperate attempt to postpone mass redundancies until after the election. It has to be said that all three major parties have taken the same stand on the collapse of MG Rover.

Behind the scenes, New Labour officials say that MG Rover belongs to the past and that the workers will be alright once they have retrained and found other work. In between times, of course, many will become ill from the shock of losing their jobs and families and communities will be torn apart. None of this matters to the arrogant apparatchiks who champion New Labour and dine expensively while others face the dole.

This story is another good reason to withhold your vote at the May 5 general election, or at the very least refuse to vote for New Labour. After all, what is the point in a) voting New Labour or b) voting at all if the party that wins is both incapable and unwilling to protect the livelihoods of thousands of people who through no fault of their own find themselves out of work?

At the other end of the economic spectrum lies Tesco, which has announced profits of £2 billion with its growing monopoly over food retail. This corporation has a record for intensely exploiting producers and growers in Britain and overseas in order to sell at a profit. No one in government questions this. It is left to organisations like Friends of the Earth to expose the ecological damage caused by rapacious supermarket giants like Tesco.

The experiences of both MG Rover and Tesco illustrate the fact that no matter who wins on May 5, the government and the state will stand back and worship at the altar of global capitalism. Meanwhile, unemployment is beginning to rise in Britain as the boom engineering by encouraging personal debt comes to an end. There is another way through the democratisation of the ownership and control of economic and financial resources. We cannot and should not expect the existing state to do that for us. That future is in our hands and ours alone.