TUSC lobbies ‘Labstainer’

On 24 July Tower Hamlets TUSC supporters gathered outside the surgery of Jim Fitzpatrick, the Labour Party MP for Poplar and Limehouse. We protested at the fact that he abstained on the welfare bill, condemning poor working families and young people to further welfare cuts.

We held our banner calling for rent controls, council homes to be built and a £10 an hour minimum wage. We also had placards explaining how the new welfare bill will affect young people’s housing benefit and tax credits. We asked Jim Fitzpatrick how he intends to vote in relation to the new anti-union bill.

Hugo Pierre, who stood for TUSC in Poplar and Limehouse in the general election, attended the lobby, saying: “Jim Fitzpatrick and the other abstaining Labour MPs told us in the election they were campaigning to protect the poor and vulnerable. Where are they now? Tower Hamlets is one of the poorest boroughs in the country, we don’t need abstainers, we need fighters!”

Tower Hamlets Socialist Party