Editorial 336
Facing threats from right and left, Starmer’s Labour, with its tissue-thin but substantial parliamentary majority, is showing its fragility. The loss of many council seats in the May local elections, the huge rebellion in the PLP over welfare and disability cuts, and discontent over the axing of the Winter Fuel Allowance all show that Labour is on the wrong track.
With Chancellor Reeves putting all her eggs in the “growth” basket, with no return as yet, and people still feeling the pinch in living standards, plus the prospect of Trump’s tariff war destabilising world trade, the writing is on the wall for Labour: in a storm, seek a safe harbour.
That’s the message of our special supplement. Whether it is Putin’s war against Ukraine, defence policy, trade, environmental protection or action against the tech giants, all roads lead to Europe. Writers including Mary Kaldor, Luke Cooper, John Palmer, Ann Pettifor, Glyn Ford and Julie Ward point the finger towards joining with European allies to build a new progressive political alliance. Duncan Bowie underlines the importance of international socialist values directing Labour policies, while Tom Miller launches our new Local Socialism series, highlighting how progressive councils can be prefigurative for wider progress. Don Flynn emphasises that only by a forceful rebuttal of the racist anti-migrant bile emanating from Farage’s Reform and Badenoch’s Tory parties can Labour marginalise the right-wing threat whilst simultaneously showing it can make ordinary people better off.
Now, however, it’s not just from the right that Labour faces a challenge. Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana’s ‘Your Party’ also spells danger. Many good socialists are abandoning Labour or being pushed out at Labour’s peril. Trevor Fisher details the threat from the right, with Reform running well ahead in the opinion polls, while Jon Lansman and Bryn Jones call for an end to Starmer’s creeping authoritarian rule and undemocratic practices in the Party, while the former advocating tactical voting as the best option to keep out Reform.
Don Flynn provides a more detailed analysis of “Your Party”, with potential support at possibly 10 per cent of voters and a membership of more than 500,000. He is not convinced that it contains the necessary political programme or organisation to build an effective alternative to Labour, but it should be a wake-up call.
The authoritarian trend in the leadership continues with tight controls on member democracy in candidate selection and policy development, also in the PLP with selective suspensions (note only a handful of the 47 rebels on the welfare bill vote have been suspended), and more widely on banning protest group Palestine Action. John McDonnell MP, a victim of this draconian regime, writes of the need for Labour to rediscover its socialist values and stop pandering to the big corporations, while Frank Hansen reports on the “Claim the Future” conference initiated by McDonnell.
Maria Exall looks at the cuckoo in Labour’s nest in the form of Blue Labour with its narrow English nationalist, anti-woke, homophobic and transphobic rhetoric echoing much of Reform’s reactionary views.
If Labour is to secure a second term, it needs a rapid change of course which puts economic redistribution and social justice at its heart. Many of the elements exist. Robbie Scott spotlights the Employment Rights Bill as a first step to empowering workers and trade unions while GB Energy could be a progressive force for tackling climate change if plans for projects like Heathrow Airport are abandoned. Paul Atkin promotes the importance of climate change alliances while Dave Toke shows how Reform and the Tories are wrong on EVs, heat pumps and the fundamental reasons behind global warming. Starmer needs to reconnect with his abandoned leadership election pledges or make way for those who will fight for them.
Meanwhile, on the global front, Labour needs to roll back the red carpet for Trump and realise that the best protection against populist bullies is to find common cause with democratic allies. So on Ukraine, it should mean a more robust rejection of Trump’s moves to appease Putin. Christopher Ford and Natalie Kopytko make the case for backing Ukraine’s fight against occupation with no annexation, the latter highlighting the role of women in the struggle for a free, independent nation. Similarly, as Gaza Palestinians face famine, Labour needs to rediscover an ethical foreign policy by calling out Israel’s genocide and Netanyahu’s crimes against humanity; end all arms supplies, implement a strict sanctions regime, give 100% backing for massive UN aid, amongst other measures to enforce a ceasefire and an end to all occupations. Patrick Costello highlights the failure of the European Union to meet these minimal humanitarian requirements.
Elsewhere, Michael Byaruhanga looks at the devastating effects of US and UK cuts in overseas aid for HIV/AIDS services in Africa while Seema Syeda traces the malign impact of Trump’s tariffs on the developing world.
Labour is at a crossroads. As we mark 80 years since the reforming Attlee government, it is timely to remember that Labour faced huge battles in 1945: a war crippled economy, wartime austerity, depressed living standards, and a massive housing crisis, to name a few. With the NHS and Welfare State, many of these problems were overcome. Starmer’s government needs its own 1945 moment. One that deals effectively with the legacy of 14 years of Tory misrule and puts us on course for socially just economic renewal, combined with an ethical policy towards refugees and international conflicts, and stands together with democratic governments against tyrannical regimes and the ethno-nationalist populist right. Time is running out to change course.