By Tom O’Leary
The certainty that Brexit will push living standards lower is not really a forecast- it is already happening. Immediately following the referendum the pound fell sharply and has more or less stayed at that lower level since. The 13 per cent decline means that CPI inflation is moving remorselessly higher and will continue to do so. Higher inflation means lower wages and incomes in real terms.
The labour movement and the population of Britain now faces the biggest attack on it since 1979 and the election of Thatcher. This is organised around the Tory project of ‘hard Brexit’ – more precisely withdrawal from the European Single Market. This provides the context of the Stoke and Copeland by-elections and explains their outcome.
Notes from the front of 4-2-2017
The Tories are on a course to force the Article 50 Bill through parliament at break-neck speed. The framework the government has set out is to take the country out of the Single Market, without any limits on the negotiated outcome.
By Andrew Williams
Jeremy Corbyn is heading up the campaign in Parliament for the proposed state visit of US President Trump to be postponed. Yesterday (1 February) Corbyn raised the issue at Prime Minister’s Questions, having previously written to Theresa May urging her to withdraw the invitation.
By Pat Tanner
It is clear, and becoming increasingly publicly evident, that in the coming period the living standards of the British population and British workers cannot be maintained without membership of the European Single Market. The inflation that will be created by the plunging pound will significantly cut living standards, while refusal of companies to invest without free access to a European market which is many times bigger than any UK one will lead to heavy job losses. The significantly lower economic growth that will result will put further pressure on social spending.
By Pat Tanner
The Corbyn leadership of the Labour party is the most important development on the left in Britain for generations and should be wholeheartedly supported by all socialists and the left. However, due to the cavalier behaviour of the previous Tory leadership under Cameron, this Labour leadership is faced with grappling with an equally momentous and complex political crisis resulting from the vote in favour of Brexit.
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