Welcome to AEO UK, the political news and campaign forum exclusively for UK residents. AEO members can submit proposals for debate, put motions to the vote, poll the entire membership, post invitations to events or Zoom meetings and even ask for support/funding for a political or legal campaign.
Click here to go to full page...
@Spotlight created a Debate
5 days ago
“The two party stitch up is finished!”
“Westminster is broken… this is a government not only out of touch but morally bankrupt… it impoverishes the sick and the elderly to satisfy spreadsheets… Mr Chair, I voted to protect winter fuel payments, I’d do it again, I voted to scrap the two child benefit cap, I’d do it again… because this isn’t just about benefits, it’s about the country we want to be - one that protects the vulnerable or punishes them – I know which side I stand on… I know I speak for millions across this country when I say ‘we are not going to take this anymore.’ The two party stitch up is finished, there is an alternative and we will be offering it!,” Zarah Sultana MP, Coventry South
The left is rising and it’s got a number of Labour grandees (Neil Kinnock and Barry Gardiner) rather hot under the collar already. They’ve been firing off the usual expected statements, aimed at sewing fear and discord, but we’re having none of it! Here’s a brief summary of what’s been going on behind the scenes over just the last few days…
Green Party leadership hopeful Zack Polanski has said the party should be open to working with Jeremy Corbyn’s left-wing group, adding that he is open to a pact with anyone who could take on Reform UK. Needless to say the Israel lobby is already gearing up to smear him but Zack’s not bowing to pressure (see image attached).
Collective Scotland have also said that they are now working to build "a full-fledged electoral alliance of the Scottish left" for next year's Holyrood election... "as the left across Britain comes together to form a new political party, the Scottish left now has a similar opportunity to unite".
The Socialist Party (formerly Militant) have also offered some positive cogitation on the prospect of a new left party, co-founded by Corbyn and Zarah Sultana. They believe that there is now an "urgent need for a new workers’ party with a clear anti-war, anti-austerity, socialist programme," a party that incorporates a proper democratic structure which could attract Union support.
There was also a lot of criticism for the Labour Party at this year’s National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) conference (on 5 July) and some support for a new direction. The party was accused of being anti-working class and of targeting the most vulnerable in society and conversation frequently revolved around the need for a new political party for workers. Ian Hodson, president of the BFAWU, welcomed the announcement that Zarah Sultana had left Labour in order to help build and co-lead a new political party with Jeremy Corbyn, adding… “We as working-class people have to organise to defeat this Labour government”. Steve Wright, newly elected general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), remarked… “at our conference five weeks ago, our delegates debated whether we should stay affiliated to the Labour Party. I said ‘We’re in the party, we need to demand change from inside’. But that line won’t last much longer.”
RMT London regional officer, Jared Wood, argued that the prospect of a new party, led by Zarah Sultana and Jeremy Corbyn, should be seen as an opportunity for the trade union movement. In his opinion, they should be talking to Zara Sultana and Jeremy Corbyn, and others, and they should be putting forward their demands and helping to shape the party’s development.
Nancy Taaffe, a Unite workplace rep, expressed her support and urged people to support the petition: ‘Time for trade unions to take the lead in forming a new working-class party’ (initiated by former Labour MP and socialist councillor Dave Nellist and 35 current and former executive members of different trade unions).
University and College Union (UCU) National Executive Committee (NEC) member Marco Tesei told the meeting that he had already taken a motion to the UCU conference calling on the NEC to invite Jeremy Corbyn and other pro-worker MPs to discuss how they can best represent the union and its battles in parliament.
Fiona Brittle, from the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) NEC, pushed home the need to repeal anti-union laws and remarked… “Any new party… has to be built on trade unions and trade union democracy… Who does Keir Starmer go back to? He goes back to big business. We need a new party to go to the working class to ask for approval, to hand power to workers organised in trade unions”.
Ed Harlow, vice president of the National Education Union (NEU) said 15yrs of cuts to education means we now have “an entire generation of children who have been through an education system knowing only cuts and decline”. With a 3rd of all school kids now living in poverty, Harlow argued that unions need to be “genuinely fighting for an alternative that puts people, not profit, at the heart of our system.”
Ellie Waple, former NEC candidate for Surrey Unison who faced attacks in the press for being a trans woman, expressed her anger over how right-wing media, Reform and Starmer had been whipping up transphobia… “Starmer welcomed the Supreme Court guidance (against trans people) and that’s not a Labour Party I want to belong to, that’s not a Labour Party I want my trade union to belong too.”
Len McCluskey is also warning Labour that they could lose trade union support to a new left wing party led by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana. Len told GB News… “If the new party proves credible, then I will join it, I will campaign for it and I will urge individuals and trade unions to give their support,” adding that “As ordinary people get disillusioned, they will turn to Reform UK, which is why there is a desperate need for another choice.”
The co-founder of Momentum and Jeremy Corbyn’s former director of communications, James Schneider, has welcomed Len McCluskey’s remarks, describing them as “positive” and “encouraging,” adding “The fact that a new party is coming is very exciting for a lot of people." Clearly, Schneider does not support Momentum’s current position on the new party, which raises question… who exactly is in charge of Momentum now, and how can Starmer’s Labour continue to claim that it represents the left while simultaneously pandering to the right, ignoring the unions and ditching left wing policies?
Meanwhile, Zarah Sultana’s campaign on the Action Network website is showing over 60,000 people have signed up since she announced she was quitting the Labour Party to help set up a new party with Jeremy Corbyn (a week ago), and it’s still climbing. The actual figure is likely to be a lot higher as there appears to be an issue with the counter on the website. In fact, the Coventry Telegraph reported, on 7th July, that it was already over 70,000. By the way, here’s the link if anyone wants to sign up - https://actionnetwork.org/forms/join-team-zarah
SOURCES:
https://www.thenational.scot/news/25293792.greens-open-alliance-jeremy-corbyn-party---zack/
https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/over-70000-people-sign-up-32007237
