Fight for jobs homes and services for all

Berkay Kartav, Socialist Party National Committee and member of Unite migrant workers branch

Twelve people, including six children and a pregnant woman, tragically lost their lives after the boat carrying them sank in the English Channel on 3 September. Dozens more people had to be rescued by fishers and coastguards.

Over 40 people have lost their lives this year, desperately attempting to cross the English Channel in search for a better future. Exploiting the plight of people fleeing war, repression and devastation in their home countries, human smugglers cramming people in small boats to make a profit.

Despite scrapping the Tory Rwanda scheme, Keir Starmer and home secretary Yvette Cooper have talked about increasing deportations of asylum seekers, putting lives at risk.

We say, no to racist immigrant laws! We demand democratic working-class control over borders by elected representatives from trade unions and migrant organisations to review asylum cases and grant asylum, and the resources to do so safely and quickly.

The new Labour government has not put forward any new safe and legal routes for asylum seekers. Tory policies and cuts to public services fuel desperation that pushes people towards dangerous journeys across the Channel.

Pro-capitalist politicians try to pit workers against each other, scapegoating migrants for lack of jobs, homes and services. Meanwhile they enable their rich backers to get richer. 

The richest 100 individuals in the UK increased their wealth by £40 billion in the last year alone. Just a fraction of that wealth can be used to lift millions of people out of poverty.

The reason for the lack of decent jobs with decent pay, the lack of secure homes or collapsing services is not because of asylum seekers and refugees. The responsibility lies with the bosses who only care about their profits, both in Britain and internationally, and their rotten system.

A united, mass working-class struggle for a fully-funded NHS, a mass programme of council house building and decent jobs for all can cut across divisions and win resources for all. The consequences of decades of cuts and capitalist divide-and-rule was seen in the far-right attacks mere weeks ago.

To cut across the rise of racist ideas and to end the horror seen in the channel, the working-class movement needs a political arm too. A new workers’ party, based on the trade unions and armed with a socialist programme, could fight for the money and resources our communities need. A fight for jobs, homes and services for all would be a pole of attraction for working-class people who are looking for a socialist alternative.