cuts - Socialist Action

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.

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.

High stakes in deepening European crisis

10th July 2013 Socialist Action 0

By Nicky Dempsey

Repeated claims that the European crisis is over are entirely false. Among the countries whose creditors have been bailed out the Greek economy is expected to contract sharply again in 2013, the Portuguese centre-right coalition government has threatened to fall apart and Ireland, long touted as the model for a bail-out, has officially gone back into recession.

The National Front at Villeneuve sur Lot : a wake up call

3rd July 2013 Socialist Action 0

By Najete Michell

The by-election on 23rd June in Villeneuve sur Lot was a wake up call for the French political class. The second round run-off posed the question of whether the National Front candidate would win in the election for this Southern France parliamentary seat.

In the event, the NF candidate lost, but he nevertheless got 46 per cent of the vote in the run off against the UMP, apparently getting 7,000 more votes than in the first round, although the exact figures have yet to be released.

The People’s Assembly Against Austerity creates unity in fight against cuts

25th June 2013 Socialist Action 0

By Nicky Dempsey

The People’s Assembly Against Austerity marked a significant step in creating much needed unity between the various strands of the movement in the fight against this government’s austerity policies.

It gathered 4,000 trade unionists, activists and campaigners from every part of the country, and demonstrated the strength that can be attained if differences are put aside around a common call to resist the attacks on living standards and welfare.