Ben Lees, Birmingham Socialist Party
The energy was high. People were passionate about the prospect of the new party.
The Socialist Party was there. We had a petition to calling on Your Party councillors standing in the May 2026 council elections to take a no-cuts budget policy. This is particularly relevant after four Birmingham Labour councillors announced their resignation from the party earlier that day, and attended the Your Party rally.
People were supportive of what we said. Many of them raised the schism among the Your Party MPs as a reason to hold the new party to higher standards going forward.
Birmingham independent MP Ayoub Khan, as well as Jeremy Corbyn, were the featured speakers. They focused heavily on ex-Labour members who had become disillusioned under Keir Starmer’s government. Corbyn was the star of the show by a wide margin, and a huge favourite of the crowd.
The local impact of successive Labour and Tory governments was a key talking point. The years-long bankruptcy of Birmingham Labour council is one of the more overt examples of austerity’s utter failure.
It is the result of years of underinvestment and pandering to shareholders that has left life expectancy lower than national average, ordinary workers more hopeless than ever, and a despair that leads many people to think that Reform is the only viable option left.
The Birmingham bin strike, now entering its tenth month, was called out in particular as an example of why we need a new party on the side of workers. Neither the local or national Labour governments have provided workers with an acceptable deal. The local council has still found millions of pounds to pay private organisations to collect ‘excess’ rubbish.
The UK’s continued military support of the Israeli government’s genocide of the Palestinian people was huge for the crowd, especially in light of the recent attack on the Manchester synagogue that has been disgustingly weaponised by Starmer and his ministers to further repress pro-Palestine protests. Corbyn invited everyone to join the anti-war march on 11 October in central London (see page 12).
A living wage for workers, and public ownership of public transport, energy, and water were other positive commitments made. A question posed on how to prevent further privatisation of the NHS was met with an emphasis on the importance of local communities campaigning, and holding MPs who would profit off of private medical care to account.
May’s local elections, including in Birmingham, will be a great opportunity for Your Party council candidates to stand and win. They could do this by pledging to vote against all cuts, campaigning to restore services, jobs, and pay stolen by Labour and Tory austerity.
