Labour Party

A report in the Morning Star of 26 July announced “Starmer’s benefits stance prompts bid for new party”

Labour HQ’s moves against Neal Lawson, a longstanding Labour figure close in their days to Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband, have brought protests from way beyond the left. Jon Cruddas MP has denounced “the most rightwing, illiberal faction in the party” as destroying what he sees as the pluralism of... New Labour in Blair’s heyday. Jon Trickett MP, a longstanding soft-leftist, has organised a Zoom protest meeting for 13 July . Technically Lawson is targeted for supporting non-Labour candidates. But the specific “offence” is a tweet from 2021 endorsing a Lib-Dem call to vote tactically for a Green...

The sentencing of Carla Foster in June, for procuring drugs to induce an abortion past the legal term limit, has been a stark reminder of how limited our reproductive rights really are. This is unjustifiable. No one should be imprisoned for ending a pregnancy, and no should be forced to stay pregnant against their wishes. Below is a model motion to submit to your Labour Party or trade union branch, calling for the decriminalisation of abortion and the abolition of term limits. Please amend as appropriate and let us know when it has been passed: office@workersliberty.org.uk MOTION: AS EARLY AS...

Of the 22 Constituency Labour Parties (CLPs) in the catchment for the new “North-East mayor” to be elected in May 2024, eight have voted to make no nomination for Labour candidate for mayor. Hexham, Wansbeck, Blyth Valley, Blaydon, Newcastle East, Newcastle Central, Easington, and City of Durham have voted that way to protest against the 2 June decision by a panel of Labour’s National Executive to exclude Jamie Driscoll, current Labour North of Tyne mayor, from the longlist. Three CLPs did not meet to consider nominations, and two nominated all the candidates longlisted. Only nine nominated...

The Tory government has ruled on behalf of the capitalist class and the rich. Under the Tories, Britain has become more unequal. In 2022, incomes for the poorest 14mn people fell by 7.5%, while incomes for the richest fifth saw a 7.8% increase. The richest fifth of earners had an income more than 12 times the amount earned by the poorest fifth. The top 1% have incomes much higher than the rest of those in the top 10%. The differences in wealth are even starker. In 2020, the Office for National Statistics calculated that the richest 10% of households hold 43% of all wealth. The poorest 50% own...

Darren Rodwell, the Labour leader of Barking and Dagenham council and parliamentary candidate for Barking, has threatened to evict council-tenant families not working with the police over knife crime. “If your child is involved in an incident and knows who the perpetrators are, and refuses to speak out, we will look at reviewing your housing agreement,” Rodwell said. “Everyone must play their part in stopping these crimes. As parents, it is up to us to know where our children are, and that we play an active role.” He added: “If families know their relatives are linked to crime, they must speak...

New laws aimed at repressing radical protest and scaring activists into silence are being used to harass environmental, anti-deportation and left-wing political campaigners. And so are many old ones: in fact, jail sentences tend to be for “old” offences. The new laws give the police vast new powers against protest which they are only just starting to use. In April two Just Stop Oil (JSO) protesters were sentenced to long jail terms for “public nuisance” over occupying the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge at Dartford near London. Morgan Trowland and Marcus Decker spent 37 hours on the bridge...

Through Labour’s National Policy Forum in July and the Labour Party conference, 8-11 October in Liverpool, Solidarity will be pressing for activists to organise in unions and local Labour Parties to call Keir Starmer to account. The Labour leaders’ draft programme, the National Policy Forum report released on 11 May, sets up two barriers against making reality of its bland and blurred talk of social advance. It defines everything as having to be done in concert with or for the benefit of “business”. “We will make Britain the best place in the world to start and grow a business by making the...

Early on 6 May, before the day’s coronation procession, police arrested Graham Smith and other organisers of the republican protest planned around the procession, and confiscated their placards. The cops cited, so the BBC reports, “suspicion of affray, public order offences, breach of the peace and conspiracy to cause a public nuisance”. On 8 May the police told the organisers they would take “no further action”; the organisers are now talking to lawyers about suing the police. Republic is a “moderate” organisation. It discussed its protest plans with the police in advance, and gained approval...

Discussing the 4 May local election results, pollster John Curtice told the BBC: “Perhaps there is a message here that voters are not yet fully enthused about the Labour alternative even if they are clearly disenchanted with the current Conservative government” The Tory vote was down to rhe equivalent of 26% in a general election, from 30% in last year’s local elections. The Tories lost 1,058 council seats, and that after losing over 1,330 when the same seats were contested in 2019. This despite their attempt at voter suppression through new voter ID laws . For the first time in almost three...