Labour Party

A point in my article on the Tamworth by-election (Solidarity 687) is garbled. Labour’s vote in the by-election was lower than in the South East Staffordshire by-election in 1996; but the point I really intended to make is this: the Labour vote grew from the 1992 General Election to that 1996 by-election by over 4,000 votes. 1996 is a particularly useful comparator as it was a year before a general election, as we probably are now. South East Staffordshire was the main predecessor constituency to Tamworth. David Pendletone, Isle of Wight

Discussion at The World Transformed (TWT) festival that took place alongside Labour Party conference (7-10 October) reinforced how disoriented much of the left is on local government. The TWT session on “ecosocialism” — really more about local community organising — featured a speaker from “Cooperation Hull”, a group of activists who have organised meetings they call “People’s Assemblies” in the town and are now planning to stand in local elections there. Some of the organising Cooperation Hull has done sounded interesting and even impressive, but what their speaker said begged many questions...

Activists in Southampton Test Constituency Labour Party have been told that a local motion calling for a ceasefire in Israel-Gaza is out of order. Nine members of the constituency executive in Glasgow Kelvin have resigned their executive positions because “we have been informed by the general secretary and the Scottish general secretary that any motions relating to the situation in Israel and Gaza are out of order for all CLPs”. A number of Labour councillors have resigned from the Labour Party over Keir Starmer’s statements on Israel-Gaza. It looks like these moves reflect local right-wing...

At Labour conference 8-11 October, 81% of CLPs and 54% of affiliates (mostly unions) voted for restriction of motions to “contemporary” issues and 65% of CLPs and 52% of affiliates (mostly unions) supported new rules for CLPs (mostly about officer positions). The National Policy Forum report was carried with 91% of CLPs and 69% of affiliates in favour. These figures are a bit different from our first information. They show an unusually large minority of unions protest-voting where items usually go through “on the nod”. Unfortunately, doing little more than protest-voting.

Labour won the 19 October by-elections in Tamworth and Mid-Bedfordshire, with significant swings. Good! The central issue for the working-class is getting the Tories out of government and replacing them with a government that may be open to organised working class pressure. Despite the Labour leaders’ hullaballoo about “changing landscapes” and “game-changing” moments, the result shows a big antipathy to the Tories — but no positive embrace for Labour. In the Mid-Beds by-election Labour actually got fewer votes than they did in 2019 General Election. In Tamworth only 800 votes more than in...

Labour Left Internationalists (LLI) had a visible presence at both the Labour conference and the World Transformed (TWT) in Liverpool (7-11 October) and so did Workers’ Liberty (though officially banned by Labour). The Labour conference was, as expected, dominated by the right with the call to rally behind the leadership for unity in the coming general election, but a good few delegates and visitors were open to left-wing ideas. LLI distributed a conference bulletin to delegates, with information about many campaigns and issues. Constituency Labour Parties (CLPs) can vote for six topics to get...

Jeremy Gilbert opened the session on "Strategies for a Starmer government" at The World Transformed (fringe event at Labour conference 2023, 7-10 October) by comparing the probable next Labour government to Blair’s victory in 1997. Blair took power after the exhaustion of the Conservative Party and the Left when the Labour Movement had been thoroughly defeated by Thatcher. Blair accepted that there was no possibility of challenging the power of capital so only ameliorating reforms were possible. These reforms were successful due to the context of an economic boom, which allowed reforms to be...

In percentage terms, Scottish Labour romped home to victory in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election on 5 October 2023. Labour won the seat with nearly 60% of the vote (compared with 34% of the vote in the 2019 general election). The SNP’s share of the vote slumped from 44% in 2019 to 28%. The overall swing from SNP to Labour was just over 20%. If the result were repeated across Scotland in a general election – although it certainly will not be – Labour would win 42 seats and the SNP would hold on to just six seats. Even so, the result strengthens the more realistic prospect of Labour...

Keir Starmer has had a 15 to 20% poll lead over the Tories for a year, since the Liz Truss episode in September-October 2022. As with Blair in 1994-97, many people in the labour movement will go along with him if only not to rock a boat which could end a decade and a half of Tory rule. But an audible left-wing minority voice in 2023 will be a vital marker for the future. We are realistic about this. A lot of the “soft left” and “centre”, even people like Neal Lawson and Jon Cruddas, are scornful of Starmer. We thought maybe they would push him somewhat off his Blair-tribute path before now. It...

Activists from Workers' Liberty and supporters of Solidarity will be at Labour Party conference and women's conference, 7-11 October in Liverpool. We'll be there to help the efforts of Free Our Unions, the Labour Campaign for Free Movement, the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign, India Labour Solidarity, and other campaigns; to sell literature, seek discussions and contacts. There will be demonstrations for the NHS and for abortion rights on Saturday, for free education on Sunday. And agitation for a block on new North Sea oil and gas fields, following the Tories' decision to "max out" licences in...