Resist the Tory Offensive - For Socialist Solutions to the Crisis
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Autumn
Update
2021
y Of fe ns ive - F o r
Resist th e Tor
on s to th e C risis
Socialis t Solu ti
Steve Eason CC BY NC Rachael Maskell Tim Dennell CC BY NC
Peter Damian CC BY SA
Inside:
MP
Richard Burgon
iley MP
Rebecca Long Ba
P
Zarah Sultana M
MP
Grahame Morris
P
Diane Abbott M
Nadia Jama, NEC
FAWU
Sarah Woolley, B
Read Labour Outlook at www.labouroutlook.org and @LabourOutlook
Steve Eason CC BY NC SA
Labour needs to seize the agenda Richard Burgon
MP
and fight for a Wealth Tax
The debate on how to fund much- And it is completely unnecessary. From is a vision that we can be confident
needed social care investment has a Green New Deal, to reversing NHS would resonate with the public.
forced the issue of taxation to the top privatisation, to building 100,000 new
A Wealth Tax is also an idea whose time
of the political agenda. council houses a year, and scrapping
has clearly come. British billionaires
student fees, we have developed
The new Tory tax hikes are simple class increased their wealth by £106
progressive policies in recent years that
warfare - hitting millions of working billion during the crisis, according to
have strong public backing.
people in the pocket and letting the the Sunday Times Rich List. That’s a
wealthy off the hook. Continuing such progressive policies sickening £290m per day.
was the basis of the policy platform on
They are part of a relentless Tory A Wealth Tax on the richest 1% with
which Keir Starmer won his leadership
attempt to make working people pay assets of over £5m, for example, would
election.
for the Covid crisis – with millions also raise many billions.
set to be hit by Universal Credit cuts of But sadly that policy platform is not
But the Tories are so in the pocket of
over £1,000 per year being pursued.
the super-rich that they’re refusing to
So it’s right that our whole Labour Our Party must now seize this moment tax wealth and instead are targeting
movement has rejected the regressive to spell out a better alternative. working people.
Tory tax plans.
With the government set to publish a If Labour is to expose the Tory
But opposing reactionary Tory policies Social Care White Paper in the coming rhetoric about “levelling up” and boost
is not enough. Our party also has to weeks, we need to be calling for a our standing in the polls then the
map out its own alternative. National Care Service funded through a leadership needs to be much clearer
Wealth Tax. about what the party stands for.
Unless Labour offers its own solutions
then, however unpopular certain Tory Huge work has been done in recent A Wealth Tax is the perfect way of
policies are, we can’t expect the public years on Labour’s vision for a National showing whose side we are on.
to see us as the alternative. Care Service. It would be based on the
• Richard Burgon is MP for Leeds
principles of our NHS - free at the point
A General Election now looks likely East and Secretary of the Socialist
of use, provided by the public sector
within the next 18 months - and polls Campaign Group of MPs. He has
and paid for through progressive
suggest we are still falling way short of launched a petition with the Labour
taxation.
forming the next government. Assembly Against Austerity calling
It would include free personal care, for a Wealth Tax. Sign up here
To turn this around our party needs
support local authorities to directly https://bit.ly/timetotaxthesuper-
to urgently paint a picture of what it
provide care rather than outsource it rich
stands for. Timidity at this time risks
and proper pay for the workforce. This
many more years of Tory rule.
Labour Outlook
Where next for Labour’s Green ley MP
Rebecca Long Bai
New Deal?
The next step of Labour’s vision must The Green National Care Service should
therefore use the power of the Green also be paired with investment in green,
New Deal to improve lives beyond the low carbon public transport such as
well discussed industrial sectors and one electric buses, bringing bus and rail
right at the top of the agenda must be services back into public ownership and
Social Care. improvements to walking and cycling
infrastructure.
We must of course retain our firm
commitment to a public National Care These are just a few ideas. A Green
Service just like the NHS, funded not National Care Service care can build a
by pushing those who have seen their caring economy that benefits people and
income drop into further into poverty or the planet. If we are serious about the
selling people’s homes, but by ending the Green New Deal then we must also be
unfairness that sees income from wealth serious about making overall quality of
taxed at lower rates than income from life for all its central pillar and rethinking
work. But in developing this care service what work counts as part of a just and
we must also develop a Green National sustainable society.
Care Service. This requires recognising
CC BY SA Rwendland • Rebecca Long Bailey is MP for
that care jobs are green jobs and should
be paid as such, and that investing Salford and Eccles
The Green New Deal is not just a vehicle
to tackle climate change and ensure the in care, in its physical infrastructure
health of future generations, it is also and care technologies is investing in a
the biggest economic lever we have ever sustainable future.
had to implement the radical economic Through creative innovations about how
change needed to tackle social injustice care is delivered and the homes we live
and inequality. in, we can deliver secure and well-paid
The last Labour manifesto set out a bold work, build green infrastructure and
ambitious green programme called the support people in our community to live
Green Industrial Revolution focusing on a their best lives.
range of industrial measures such as the By delivering fair and inclusive unionised
decarbonisation of energy and transport, work, with good pay, terms and
home retrofitting, publicly owned energy conditions, as well as apprenticeships
and water, a just transition for affected and ongoing training, we can address
workers as well as unionised, well paid staff shortages as well as retaining
workforces and much more. experienced staff. Financial and respite
But it is important to note that whilst support must also be provided for
these key industrial measures are unwaged carers.
urgently necessary, they form only a Greening care spaces and practices
small part of a true Green New Deal is also critical. Through targeted
Agenda. The ultimate goal should not investment, homes and care homes
just be about increasing investment in can be transformed by retrofitting
climate friendly technologies, it should them to the highest energy-efficiency
about greening every aspect of society standards thus reducing energy bills and
and instigating long term systemic eliminating fuel poverty. We should also
economic change. roll out technologies like heat pumps and
solar hot water. Steve Eason CC BY NC
ONLINE EVENT
System change not climate
change – a Green New Deal for
people and planet
Rebecca Long-Bailey MP, Zarah Sultana MP, Grace Blakeley, Scarlett Westbrook
6.30pm, Thursday 14 October 2021 https://bit.ly/systemchangegnd
FOE Scotland CC BY
www.labouroutlook.org @LabourOutlook
Steve Eason CC BY NC
Fighting for unity means fighting against racism
Black Maternal Health Awareness week wheel of racism currently, which switches
P
Diane Abbott M is just coming to an end. It is necessary from attacks on refugees, discrimination
to raise awareness in this area because in public services, increased stop and
The evidence of widespread, deep-rooted Black mums are four times more likely search, attacks on prominent Black
and longstanding institutional racism to die in pregnancy or childbirth than campaigners, support for racists, ‘culture
is all around us. Everywhere, that is their peers, twice as likely to experience wars’ over the legacy of Britain’s colonial
except in the speeches and policies of stillbirth, and have a 50 per cent greater past, to excusing racists and racist
ministers, and the ‘research’ they have likelihood of experiencing neonatal behaviour sometimes on the grounds of
commissioned. death. ‘free speech’.
Their research is a whitewash and is These are issues which have not The background to this is the enormous
widely and justifiably derided. Except suddenly arisen. The fact that they toll being exacted on the population
by ministers. For them, the denial of the are chronic problems is by itself an as whole through the illness and death
existence of institutional racism has a indicator of institutional racism in caused by the government’s failure to
twofold effect. First, naturally it means the health care system. The fact that tackle the pandemic effectively, and the
they have excused themselves from successive governments have done little huge attack on jobs, pay and conditions
any responsibility to tackle the issue, or nothing to address it is a marker of that have followed it.
which they have declared non-existent. how unresponsive they have been to
Within all of this Black and Asian people
But secondly, and more perniciously, it the most egregious and deadly forms of
have had to bear by far the biggest
allows them to persist with policies that discrimination. It also shows that raising
burden both in terms of public health
are themselves racist and even to worsen these issues is not, as frequently claimed,
and the attack on living standards. If we
them. divisive. The division arises from the
are to fight back against this government
discrimination and racism. Raising the
You only have to see how asylum on any of these issues, we must be
issue is an attempt to heal divisions in
seekers are treated in this country and united. Unity means fighting the divisions
the only way they can be healed, through
the appalling conditions where they are this government is deepening.
the struggle for equality.
detained. The RSPCA and others would • Diane Abbott is MP for Hackney
be intervening vigorously if animals were Of course, these two issues are not the
North and Stoke Newington
kept in similar conditions. And the media sole or even main issues indicating the
flow of sympathy for Afghan refugees level of racism in British society. But
has been closed tight ever since their they are very current ones. Anti-racist
delusions of Britain ‘going it alone’ in campaigners and others will readily
Afghanistan were shattered. testify that there is a virtual spinning-
ONLINE EVENT
Resisting the Tory offensive - winning an agenda
for people and planet Labour
Labour Assembly Annual Conference Assembly
With Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott, John McDonnell, Richard Burgon, Bell Ribeiro-Addy,
Mark Serwotka and more.
Against
1pm, Saturday 27 November 2021 https://bit.ly/LAAA2021 Austerity
Labour Outlook
Mobilise, organise and fight for our services
It’s clear the government has no in the country who have literally risked
Holly Turner,
intention of investing in the NHS theirs and their families lives for the past
y NO and its staff and that is why we have year to keep this country going.
NHS Workers Sa privatisation happening. Now NHS
Now we have the new Health and Care
workers are currently in a fight for our
Bill opening the door to privatisation and
As an NHS nurse I’m becoming pay. Pay is one of the levers and that’s
will do nothing to solve the real problems
increasingly concerned about the why we really need to fight this battle.
of the NHS, which is lack of resources and
dangerously low staffing levels. We were offered an insulting 3% which staff. We must be united in opposing this
For a decade we have been struggling actually represents further restraint after bill - unite across the labour movement,
to fill shifts and it’s just continued to years of cuts to our pay. Our unions are supporting grassroots organisations
get worse - leaving us dangerously currently balloting so please return your to mobilise, organise and fight for our
underprepared for the pandemic - and ballot and vote to reject the offer. services, protect our frontline workers
leaving us dealing with the consequences and support the most vulnerable in our
Now we’ve seen this hike in our national
for years to come. Colleagues are society.
insurance and adding the rate of inflation
leaving in droves and the implication this makes our pay rise even less. • NHS Workers Say NO is a grassroots
of this affects us all, because we know campaign led by UK wide NHS
this translates to poor patient care and Health and social care should be
workers. Follow them at twitter.
dangerously high waiting list and we government funded and we should be
com/NurseSayNO and fb.com/
know that gives a free pass to the Tories taxing the rich who have profited off the
NHSworkersSayNo
to dress them up as failing services and back of this pandemic, not increasing
palm them off to the rich elite. tax for some of the lowest paid workers
Steve Eason CC BY NC
Stand together They have gone out day after day
to produce the food that has kept
The key workers they have spent months
thanking with empty words are the
supermarket shelves filled even when
collectively and
very people that will be repeatedly hit
they haven’t been in a position in some with these changes and will be plunged
cases to feed themselves. further into poverty as a result.
demand better When we were asked to clap for them on
a Thursday evening was nothing more
This has got to change, we have to come
together again as the Labour movement,
than a distraction technique, to divert to hold the Tories to account, working
Sarah Woolley, the public’s attention away from the across trade unions, supporting each
y,
General Secretar many failings of the Tories through the other to tackle the likes of Amazon,
d
Bakers, Food an
pandemic. It was also a distraction from McDonalds and all the other shameful
the lack of challenge and accountability exploitative employers that put profit
nion
Allied Workers U from the Labour Party Leadership too. before people.
Now furlough is coming to an end, the So join a trade union and let’s work
Never has there been a more critical time removal of the £20 universal credit together across the many sectors we
for us to come together and fight back uplift, increasing national insurance and represent to grow our movement, to
collectively as a labour movement suspending the pensions triple lock, it empower people and improve the lives
just proves that they are only interested of our members and those in working
Bakers, Food and Allied Worker Union in their rich donors, their families and in our industries. This only happens
members like many others have worked the 1% and are intent on creating more when we stand together collectively and
throughout the pandemic, in our case division in our communities. demand better.
keeping the nation fed through the worst
18 months we have experienced.
www.labouroutlook.org @LabourOutlook
The 20 year war on Afghanistan was a P
Zarah Sultana M
mistake of catastrophic proportions
ISAF CC BY
Nearly twenty years since Tony Blair That dangerous fantasy, cooked up by provided with an unconditional amnesty.
dutifully followed George W. Bush to war neo-conservative fanatics in Washington
The war on Afghanistan was the first
in Afghanistan, there is an obligation and championed by their faithful
‘war on terror’. I was just seven years
to learn its lessons and to ensure that followers in London, has brought untold
old when British air strikes hit the
its mistakes are never repeated. I want death and destruction to Afghanistan,
country. A few years later, the now Prime
to start by stating a hard but clear Iraq, Libya and many other places, in
Minister wrote, ‘We are in Afghanistan
truth that some do not want to hear: wars that have made us all unsafe. Today,
to teach them the value of democracy’.
the 20-year war on Afghanistan was a we must rid ourselves of the delusion
Today, after 20 years of bloodshed, it is
mistake of catastrophic proportions, that the answer to failed intervention
incumbent on us to learn that democracy
causing untold human tragedy, with is yet more intervention and dispense
cannot be bombed into existence and
240,000 people killed - men, women and with the belief that freedom abroad and
that American military might is no friend
children - including tens of thousands of safety at home can be won through wars
of freedom, and to ensure that this first
innocent Afghan civilians and 457 British and regime change.
‘war on terror’ is Britain’s last war of
personnel. This House [of Commons]
After all this bloodshed, we have a special aggression.
must never again send British service
duty to the people of Afghanistan. Today,
personnel to die in futile wars. • This is an abridged version of Zarah
as Afghans flee for their lives - with heart-
Sultana’s speech in Parliament on
Rather than repeating the mistakes of breaking images of people desperately
August 18 2021. Source Hansard. The
the past, we must learn that lesson for clinging on to planes, hoping that the sky
full version can also be found on
the future. The west cannot build liberal is safer than the land - the Afghan asylum
www.labouroutlook.org
democracies with bombs and bullets. seekers who are already here must be
The time to end the US-imposed MP
Grahame Morris
blockade of Cuba is long overdue
Recent protests in Cuba have received Cuba’s case, the effect on the economy at any cost. They look for a return to
intense and not unbiased coverage in has been devastating as the situation has pre-1959 when, working alongside
western media. It is clear there are very been compounded with international US based multinationals, a small elite
serious shortages of food, medicine and tourism having been completely controlled and exploited Cuba’s wealth
power supplies at this time causing real suspended, cutting off much needed and resources, to the detriment of the
suffering for the Cuban people. hard currency revenues. majority.
However, it is also clear that this Some politicians and organisations in the The overwhelming majority of the world’s
emergency has been caused by the United States have called for some form countries and people oppose the illegal
cumulative effects of the ongoing and of ‘international intervention’ in Cuba US blockade of Cuba. This was evidenced
cruel US blockade. These have been on humanitarian grounds. These calls most recently when the UN General
recently worsened by the additional come primarily from hard-line Cuban Council voted overwhelmingly by 184
243 sanctions imposed by the Trump American politicians mainly from Florida. to 2 to lift the blockade and sanctions
administration which have been left The Mayor of Miami, Francis Suarez, even against Cuba.
in place by President Biden, despite made a call for air strikes on Cuba on Fox
The Cuban people have the skills and
his pre-election promises to revisit News.
resilience to resolve their present
them. The US Blockade is now more
Such calls are disingenuous to say the problems and thrive if it were not for the
severe than at any time in the 60-year
least and are incredibly dangerous. Such shortages of vital supplies caused by US
history of interventions and determined
calls are coming from the same people sanctions. I say no to foreign intervention
attempts by the US to dominate its small
who have been the most vociferous and unequivocally call for an end to the
Caribbean neighbour.
supporters of the blockade policies blockade.
Now, as in many countries across the which have caused the ongoing suffering,
• Support the medical appeal for Cuba
globe, the COVID-19 pandemic has shortages of food, fuel and medicines.
at https://cuba-solidarity.org.uk/
stretched resources to the limit and These are hard-line, right wing, politicians
emergency-appeal-for-cuba
caused alarm across populations. In who want ‘regime change’ in Cuba
Labour Outlook
Tory arguments over Irish border protocol
threaten peace and stability in Northern Ireland
The Agreement’s opponents, have used referendum takes place, it is vital that the
y MP
Bell Ribeiro-Add the economic impact of the Protocol - British Labour Party does not campaign
which have created a de facto border on either side but allows the people of
between Northern Ireland and Great Ireland to reach their decision.
Ever since the formation of the Northern Britain - to challenge aspects of the
Ireland state in 1921, it’s manufactured President Joe Biden’s administration has
Agreement. Since the Summer, loyalist
border with the rest of Ireland was a made clear that the government has no
groups have cited the Protocol for ending
source of conflict and tension, and the space to put the Good Friday Agreement
their cooperation with the Good Friday
passing of the Good Friday Agreement, at risk, saying “any trade deal between
Agreement, the new DUP First Minister
with majority support across the island the US and UK must be contingent
Jeffrey Donaldson has announced his
of Ireland was vital to demilitarising the upon respect for the agreement and
party’s withdrawal from a number
border and lessening those tensions. preventing the hard border”.
of North-South ministerial councils
It is no surprise then that following the which were created by the GFA and has The Prime Minister personally negotiated
protracted negotiations over a Northern even threatened withdrawal from the this protocol and is responsible for
Ireland Protocol, between the UK and the Northern Ireland Executive, potentially upholding the Good Friday Agreement.
EU, to allow the UK to leave the Customs triggering new elections. He has a personal responsibility to make
Union without the reintroduction of a it work for communities, and the peace
This behaviour threatens peace and
hard border in Ireland, that the impact process must always come first, yet
stability in Northern Ireland.
of that protocol has reopened a debate this Government’s actions repeatedly
on the Good Friday Agreement and the The Good Friday Agreement is 23 destabilise it. Defend the Good Friday
constitutional settlement of Northern years old, but large parts of it remain Agreement.
Ireland. unimplemented. It allowed for a future
• Bell Ribeiro-Addy is MP for
border poll on reunification. If such a
Streatham
Labour must speak up for Palestine
Craig Jevon Smith
Sign the Labour and Palestine The continuing de facto annexation as outlined in the 2017 and 2019
statement of Palestinian land by accelerated manifestos, and in the motions passed
settlement building alongside by the Party’s annual conferences in
As an internationalist and democratic
statements of Israel’s continuing 2018 and 2019.
socialist party, it is the responsibility
intention to proceed with annexation,
of the Labour Party to speak up for We must support “effective measures”
show it is clearer than ever that the
Palestine and stand in solidarity with including sanctions, as called for
Israeli State is intent on eliminating
the Palestinian people and their by Palestinian civil society, against
any prospects of Palestinian self-
fundamental rights, including to self- actions by the Israeli state that are
determination.
determination. illegal according to international law.
Major reports by Human Rights This must include action to ensure
Earlier this year, the international
Watch and the Israeli human rights that Israel stops the building of
community and labour movement
group B’Tselem have added weight to settlements, reverses any annexation,
widely condemned Israel’s militarised
the TUC’s warning that Israel taking ends the occupation of the West Bank,
violence against the Palestinian people,
these steps would represent ‘another ceases the blockade of Gaza, brings
including the attacking of the Al Aqsa
significant step’ towards the UN down the Wall and respects the right
mosque, the forced displacements
Crime of Apartheid and strengthen of refugees to return to their homes
from Sheikh Jarrah and the deadly
the Palestinian call for the ICC to under international law.
assault on Gaza.
investigate.
• Sign the Labour and Palestine
The seriousness of the situation facing
Labour must build on – not step statement:
the people of Palestine is confirmed
back from - its commitments to https://labourandpalestine.eaction.
by the fact the International Criminal
immediate recognition of the state online/speakupforPalestine
Court is holding an inquiry into abuses
of Palestine and an end to the
committed in the occupied Palestinian
blockade, occupation and settlements
Territories since 2014.
www.labouroutlook.org @LabourOutlook
Attacks on party democracy hold back community
and workplace views
Too many people high up in our Party It’s that clash over what the party should
seem to see the membership not as an be that drives the attacks on democracy
asset, but a problem to be managed. we are currently seeing – is it a small
Fundamentally, for those who would cabal of political operatives who interpret
like to place serious limits on Party polls and reflect the imagined views of
democracy, that problem is political – it’s the public back at them? Or is it a real,
likely that the kind of people who join living movement rooted in communities
Nadia Jama, NEC
an organisation which defines itself as and workplaces, shaping the political
a democratic socialist party will have agenda, and standing with all those
socialist politics, and therefore push the fighting their oppression?
Our members are the Labour Party’s party to adapt socialist policies.
most valuable asset. This shouldn’t be The fight for party democracy is political
a controversial statement in a party of If you don’t wish for Labour to have a – we’ve seen that in the gallop to the right
hundreds of thousands of members. But socialist platform, then the need is to on a host of issues in the last 18 months,
it is. transform the democratic forums of the while member and trade union voices
party into ‘media showpieces’ that rubber have been ignored. We must fight on
In the last few months we’ve seen stamp the decision of wise leaders who both fronts – for party democracy and
relentless attacks on party democracy make ‘sensible’ decisions – and use the a political approach of taking the fight
and the rights of party members – from members as doorstep fodder. to the Tories and for socialist policies.
shutting down legitimate debate about Ultimately, the attacks on democracy are
the party’s direction in terms of ‘gagging’ But our vision of the party is different.
about holding back the tide of the real
orders on motions, to the unfair attacks The surge of members from 2015
world to prevent it from entering the
on Young Labour, to the retrospective represented something real in the
party. Our task is to break the dam and
expulsions of people ‘associated’ country. Rather than diminishing our
let the water in.
(however loosely) with now proscribed political offer, the talents and expertise
organisations, to refusing entry to the of those members – their closeness to • Nadia Jama is a member of the
PLP of one of the most popular figures their communities and workplaces – Labour National Executive Committee
in the party, our former leader, Jeremy strengthen it.
Corbyn.
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