Britain

By Andrew Clayworth, Rushcliffe CLP member.

[Editorial note: Twenty councillors in Browtowe, a local authority in Nottinghamshire, resigned from the Labour Party last week. They formed the Broxtowe Independents group, arguing that the party has “abandoned traditional Labour values” under Keir Starmer’s leadership”. (See the Guardian report here, and statement by councillors on YouTube here). The following is a report from a Labour member with close connections with Broxtowe.]

I have had some dealings with Broxtowe Constituency Labour Party in the past and Broxtowe is an area I lived in for thirty years. Having stood for Parliament In Rushcliffe in 2010, and then for County Council In Broxtowe in 2013, I tried for the Parliamentary selection for Broxtowe, but did not get selected.

In response to the resignation from the Labour Party of twenty councillors, and as a long-standing member of the Labour Party, I am dismayed by the party’s lurch to the right. A similar criticism was made about the Blair Government, but in the case of Blair, the left still had some say with the presence of one of my own group of Ex-Alumni of Ruskin College, Oxford, John Prescott as Deputy Prime-Minister. 

The Blair government was a meld of left and right, but that was understandably not enough for many committed socialists within the party. I remember a quote from Margaret Thatcher, who, when asked about her greatest achievement responded “Tony Blair.” What did she mean exactly? She was referring to the undermining of the solid link between Labour and the trade unions which had built the Party for the protection of the working people.

With the Starmer Government there appears to be no happy meld with the left and right. Whilst we do not necessarily agree with everything within the party we should be working together for the common good and socialist opinions are valid opinions and should be taken into account in what is basically a party grown up through a socialist background. Socialist opinions under Starmer are no longer welcome.

Unrest in the Party

For some time, there has been unrest within the Labour Party over the way the Starmer leadership has systematically attempted to remove all traces of socialism from the Labour Party. From memory, there were many people who were thrown out of the Labour Party just prior to Jeremy Corbyn’s last leadership contest. I was one of those, as well as some of those who I know in Broxtowe. I have since rejoined, as I believe it is our party, not Starmer’s.

The resignation of the twenty councillors is a sad day for socialism and Labour. If this is to continue, then there is no place for working people in Labour and the trade unions might have to consider their position.

I saw a quote from Alan Simpson, former MP for Nottingham South, saying “A sad day for Labour. You don’t broaden the base by silencing dissent. Theses were long term loyalists, not natural rebels. Labour needs to rebuild its bridges not demolish them.” The post also included a video of Councillor Milan Radulovic speaking as follows: –

“I will not be going alone…”

“I stand in front of you today to make to make the formal announcement that after 43 years I will be leaving the Labour Party. I will not be going alone. So far over 100 people have agreed to join our group and somewhere around 20 councilors are also leaving the Labour Party. This has been the accumulation of mistreatment by the regional and national party, which has resulted in the blocking of our preferred candidate for parliamentary selection, and recently because it seems we voted against the government’s proposal to withdraw the winter fuel allowance.

“They have now blocked 10 of our members from standing in the county council elections in May, and I want to say to everybody that these people that they have blocked are committed, they are dedicated and they invest an awful lot of their time and effort in serving the borough of Broxtowe. They would make well worthy candidates, people who you can rely upon, they are trusted, they are dedicated, they are hard working.

“I myself have been 43 years in the Labour Party. I was first elected in 1986, this will be my 39^th year as a councillor. I have served 22 years as leader of Broxtowe Borough Council and 8 years as Leader of the opposition. The hope over the previous 14 years of austerity and mismanagement of this country’s finances and resources was an opportunity for a new beginning. The word was ‘Change’, what we didn’t realise was that they meant  was change for the worse.”

 What we need to remember is that the trade unions are still major financial backers of the Labour Party. Sharon Graham and Unite have made it clear to Starmer and his advisors that Unite will pay only basic affiliation to the Party unless policy changes are made towards the union’s agreed policies.

Unite is showing the way

Unite also walked out of the stitch-up on the New Deal for Working People and refused to endorse Starmer’s weak as water manifesto at the Clause V meeting. The other affiliated unions need to wake up and follow Unite’s lead. The Labour Party must serve working people and those in vulnerable positions and do what it was set up to do: to redistribute wealth.

Socialism is not, as the wealthy believe, about living in poverty. That narrative needs to change and we need to rebuild our relationship with the Labour Party by getting an agreement that unfair trade union regulations are removed and unfair social law is changed. We need to rebuild the trade union movement and get young people engaged and mobilised; they are ready for it.

If we look at the recent general election result in Rushcliffe, where the Labour Party took a seat that was previously a Conservative stronghold since the boundary changes in the 1970s, there has been a clear change in the political outlook of the youth. 

Socialism is about ensuring a decent living standard for all, and if that means taxing the rich until the pips squeak, so be it; they will still be wealthy. The Labour Party needs to embrace socialist policies and the changing demographics or, as indicated by this move from the Broxtowe Councillors, the Labour Party will die.

[Top picture: Independent Councillors Facebook page]