Britain

Party conferences fire starting gun on 2015 general election campaign

20th September 2013 Socialist Action 0

By Nicky Dempsey and Jane West

It is little more than a year and a half until the next general election and already the main issues in each party’s campaign are being delineated.

Labour is still virtually certain to be the largest party after the next election as the long-term decline in the Tory vote will be further depressed by five years of austerity. Electorally the main question is whether Labour wins a majority – and of what size – or whether it is forced into coalition with the Lib Dems.

The dynamic of Britain’s political situation will pose the need for a left party

20th August 2013 Socialist Action 0

By Jane West

In recent months the true character of the Miliband leadership of the Labour Party has been more clearly revealed.

The combination of its commitment to maintain austerity and implement the Tory cuts, attacks on the union role in the Party and nasty and vituperative campaigns against the employment of East European migrant labour marks out the contours of the coming Labour or Labour-led government after 2015.

from Ed Miliband's photostream

Miliband, the union link and ‘New Labour Mark 2’

8th August 2013 Socialist Action 0

By Jane West

Ed Miliband’s decision to call a Special Conference in Spring 2014 to change the relationship between the unions and the Labour Party has been dubbed his ‘Clause IV moment’, in reference to Tony Blair’s Easter 1995 Special Conference that changed the Party’s Aims and Values.

Why the right is attacking the unions

18th July 2013 Socialist Action 0

By Jane West

The conflict that erupted between UNITE and the Labour leadership over the union’s decision to sponsor a range of candidates in the current round of Parliamentary has provoked a new round of assault on the union link with Labour.

The decision by Ed Miliband to take the opportunity of the spat to push through changes to the unions’ affiliation to the Party has been cheered on by the Blairites and the right-wing media, for whom an ‘opt-in’ ballot and the elimination of the unions’ 50 per cent of the vote in the London Mayoral selection are just initial steps.

Achieving Ireland’s unity – a key goal for the left

1st July 2013 Socialist Action 0

By Frances Davis

Last week saw an increased level of sectarian loyalist attacks against Catholic nationalist areas in the north of Ireland, accompanying the summer ‘marching season’ and the yearly determination by a minority of unionists to force sectarian marches through areas where they are clearly not wanted by local communities. Although there have been successful resolutions in some areas over contentious parades through local negotiations, the Orange Order still refuses to engage with local residents.