Labour Party

Turning the page on neoliberalism? To what?

On 19 March 2024, Rachel Reeves, Labour's shadow chancellor, gave the Mais Lecture at the Bayes business school. Some reports said Reeves was going to praise the policies of Margaret Thatcher. In fact she didn't. Reeves said of Thatcher’s policies “The outcome was an unprecedented surge in inequality between places and people which endures today [and] the decline or disappearance of whole industries, leaving enduring social and economic costs and hollowing out our industrial strength.” Reeves also distanced herself somewhat from New Labour. She said New Labour's analysis was too narrow and...

Antidoto: From campaigner to social media "brand"

The social media "brand" that is Owen Jones has resigned from the Labour party, saying “It’s difficult to disentangle Labour from my sense of self.” And, indeed, it’s difficult to disentangle his resignation from his self-righteousness.

Our demands and a workers' government

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has responded to Jeremy Hunt’s 6 March budget by saying that things will be difficult under a Labour government and she may “have to” cut public spending. Hunt made some tax cuts — 2% off national insurance — scooped Labour’s plan to end the “non-domiciled” tax exemption for rich people, and squared it all with the “fiscal rules” by projecting public spending cuts in years ahead. Reeves makes dogma of no tax rises on the rich other than ending a few loopholes. So, “do the math”, as they say... A first answer to Reeves was given by Andrew Harrop of the Labour...

Momentum convention: a mixed bag

The Labour left grouping Momentum held its first-ever "members' convention" via Zoom on 10 March 2024, eight and a half years after the group was set up.

Fight for a workers' government

The very-mainstream Institute for Fiscal Studies has found that the Tory government’s current plans mean real-terms cuts of around 1.2% in NHS day-to-day spending. That is the largest reduction for over 50 years, and from a position where the NHS is already staggering — with big staff shortfalls and record waiting lists, and a backlog of repairs needed to hospital buildings. Local councils are being pushed into dramatic cuts. Yet the Tories plan tax cuts for the 6 March Budget. These are to be “balanced” by promises of new spending cuts in year ahead. Even the chair of the the Office for...

Reinstate Lambeth councillors!

The right-wing Labour council group in Lambeth, south London, has suspended four councillors from the Labour whip for defying orders to vote against a Green motion (in January) for a ceasefire in Gaza. The suspension came on 26 February — after the whole Labour leadership had come out for an immediate ceasefire (21 February) and long after London Labour mayor Sadiq Khan and several Labour councils had made that call. Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Labour MP for one of the Lambeth constituencies, has condemned the suspensions. Sonia Winifred, suspended for three months, has resigned from her council seat...

The cuts and the rich

The Tories are talking about tax cuts in the Wednesday 6 March budget. They will “balance” those with notional public spending cuts from 2025 which (they reckon) will be someone else’s problem to implement. The Labour leadership has pledged itself to uphold the “fiscal rules” and also not to raise taxes on the rich and big business beyond spots like repealing the “non-domiciled” exemption. That puts Starmer and Reeves — and, more importantly, the working class — in an impossible trap. Solidarity is pushing in the unions and the Labour Party to force Labour to increase taxes on the rich and big...

Labour and Gaza: now back Standing Together

The Labour leadership has moved to support an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. That is good, although very, very late: local Labour Parties have been passing ceasefire motions since October, and Labour councils have come out in favour too. The procedural chaos surrounding the UK Parliament vote on 21 February does not reflect well on any party involved (see Antidoto column, page 4). The Labour text passed is, on the Labour leaders’ own account, worded so as to chime in with Australia, Canada, and New Zealand government policy. Why? To appear “statesmanlike” and coax some Tory MPs to vote for it...

Playing parliamentary games on Gaza

On 21 February, Parliament passed a motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and condemning the proposed ground offensive in Rafah. All of which is good. Beyond that, however, the rest of what happened in the Commons that night was a disgrace with the cause of peace in Gaza overshadowed by cynicism, opportunism and hypocrisy on all sides. The SNP was clearly motivated at least as much by a desire to embarrass Labour as it was by concern for the people of Gaza. The Labour leadership was mainly concerned to avoid another rebellion and see if they could put a wedge into the Tories. The...

Labour: fit to oust the Tories?

Is Labour fit to oust the Tories? On 15 February Labour won two seats in by-elections, Wellingborough and Kingswood, with big swings from the Tories. Labour is still a broad movement. There is more hope there than in the dim and narrow leftish splinters of the last few years. Yet Keir Starmer and his new-Blairite backroom are working to shrivel hope. Starmer evidently believes that the Tories are floundering so badly that to win the general election “safelty” he needs only promise big business a safe and friendly hand on the wheel, and appease “socially-conservative” voters. The 15 Feb...

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