Labour Party

A National Health Service dentist opening recently in Bristol had a queue down the street from early on its first day, and police warning many in the queue that they had no hope of getting in to sign on before the dentist shut. NHS waiting lists are still at a catastrophic level. More and more people who can scrape together a few thousand pounds are going to private hospitals for treatments like hip replacements because they would have to wait so long for the NHS. A new report from the Academy of Medical Sciences finds that long-term trends are now being reversed so that the health of children...

Robert Griffiths, general secretary of the Communist Party of Britain, has a profound insight — no doubt informed by his mastery of Marxist theory and practice — into what a good result for the working class at the next general election would be: “A Labour victory at the next general election would be a better outcome than a Conservative victory, raising working-class morale and demands” he wrote in the Morning Star of 12 September 2023. That’s clear enough, isn’t it? It’s Griffiths’ next comments that might cause more confusion: “But this cannot mean voting for those Labour candidates who...

On 16 and 17 January, the Tories could lose Commons votes on their Bill trying to save their “send them to Rwanda” asylum policy. Even if they win, they have a battle to work the bIll, which tries to instruct courts Rwanda must be reckoned safe even if it is not. From 30 January, train drivers are striking. As yet, the government and the Train Operating Companies (TOCs) hesitate about deploying the new Minimum Service Law, which allows for the TOCs to issue “work notices” instructing drivers to turn up sufficiently for 40% service, and to get the whole strike ruled unlawful unless the union...

The Tory government’s “Safety of Rwanda” Bill comes back to the Commons for further debate and a vote on 16-17 January. Tory ultras are pressing to sharpen it, and saying they will vote against if their amendments fall; other Tories dislike the Bill’s conflict with international law even as it is. The Bill declares: “Every decision-maker must conclusively treat the Republic of Rwanda as a safe country... The provisions of this Act apply notwithstanding the relevant provisions of the Human Rights Act 1998... It is for a Minister of the Crown... to decide whether the United Kingdom will comply...

A list of many campaigns that Workers' Liberty activists are involved with and support, plus info about other organising and resources.

Labour and the Lib Dems have called for a quick general election, and the Daily Mirror has 200,000 signatures on a petition for that. We agree. Sunak claims a mandate from the 2019 general election, but life has moved on. The Chartists, the first big workers’ movement, demanded annual parliamentary elections, and they were right; so have been those who have demanded open channels for voters to recall MPs. It’s like Thatcher in 1979-82, before the Falklands war. Thatcher, pushing through attacks sketched only loosely or not at all in the 1979 Tory manifesto, was 10% behind Labour in the polls...

After a year in which the NHS and other public services have crumbled as never before, the Tories’ 22 November Autumn Statement responded by tax cuts for big business and no relief for public services. Even before winter starts, the NHS waiting list (on latest available figures , September 2023) is still rising, and at a record level of 7.8 million in England. It was a bit over two million before the Tories came to office in 2010. Most patients (57.6%) on the waiting list in September 2023 had been there for more than 18 weeks. 391,122 cases had been waiting more than 52 weeks and some for...

Solidarity goes to press on Tuesday 21st, the day before Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement. Speculation swirls about what tax cut the Tories will offer, and whether and how they will clip inflation-uprating of benefits to suit. The Tories have considered cutting inheritance tax (essentially, for millionaires only), but optics may push them to cut income tax or National Insurance rates instead. Tax percentages are higher than before. The Tories have not changed income-tax thresholds, so with inflation more people pay higher income-tax rates. VAT has been at 20% since 2011 (it was 10%...

The government has now set the minimum service levels in three of the sectors covered by the new Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act. For Border Force and some HM Passport Office staff, the minimum service stipulates that services “should be provided at a level that means they are no less effective than if a strike were not taking place”, and must “ensure all ports and airports remain open.” For ambulance staff, the minimum service level says “vital services” must continue “throughout any strike”, with all life-threatening calls, or calls “where there is no reasonable clinical alternative to...

Despite this being a period when many local Labour Parties are not taking motions because of reorganisation for new constituency boundaries, at least two local Labour Parties have passed motions for a ceasefire in Israel-Gaza. Others have motions tabled. There are moves to set up a “Labour for a ceasefire” group, and UK Friends of Standing Together looks set to gain support in local Labour Parties and trade unions. Sixteen front-benchers have supported a ceasefire. 580 Labour councillors have signed one or another of two letters calling on Keir Starmer to back a ceasefire. Less usefully, a few...