The Socialist Party National Committee met in London from 14-15 September to discuss developments in Britain and internationally, and prepare for the important tasks we face this autumn. Lenny Shail, Executive Committee member, introduced the discussion on British Perspectives. We print an extract of his speech.
We said before and after the election that there wouldn’t be a quiet summer or a honeymoon for Keir Starmer. He was only elected two months ago, think what has happened since.
Not counting Liz Truss, you’d have to go fairly far back to find any government thrown into the cauldron of heat so quickly, but also against the backdrop of still small but rising tide of working-class struggle.
You have to go back to 1987 to find any period where there’s been as many strike days lost in the three months preceding and following a general election.
Under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, it took five months for even a single vote against the Labour government by a Labour MP. Starmer had to deal with it within the first two weeks. He removed the whip of seven MPs in the first two weeks. The Blair and Brown governments didn’t remove the whip of any MP throughout their whole premierships, for voting against the government.
Starmer’s government was elected with extremely low support and a shallow social base. The latest Ipsos poll tracking Starmer’s favourability shows a rapid fall in support for him and his government, and of course the Tories are even more unpopular.
The decades-long hollowing out of the Tory party, once the most successful capitalist party in the world, reached a tipping point in the general election with the worst result in its 200-year history, and its lowest-ever number of MPs.
It is possible that the aftermath of 24 July could lead to its final shattering. Although it is also the case that the capitalist class – acutely aware that Starmer’s New Labour could suffer the same fate – are likely to do their best to salvage something from the wreckage of their historic party.
The 2024 election was a continuation of the process of fragmentation of politics, reflecting the growing alienation from capitalist politicians, which has taken place over the last 30 years. The two main parties received the lowest share of the vote (57.4%) since Labour first contested a majority of seats in 1918.
Alienation
This alienation was reflected in the riots and far-right attacks that developed over the summer. These events were serious developments, understandably provoking fear among many Black and Asian workers, particularly during those few weeks, but since too.
The editorial of the September issue of Socialism Today ‘The first lightning flashes – and what to do’ (see socialistparty.org.uk) draws a careful balance sheet of what the riots represent. It looks at how deep the roots of support for far-right ideas in society really go. It also compares the numbers of those who attended far-right protests with the tens of thousands who turned out to oppose them, and the many hundreds of thousands who have protested to oppose the Israeli state slaughter of Palestinians, for example.
The riots are part of a wider picture of ‘Broken Britain’, as so many capitalist commentators call it. You only have to read the Grenfell report to get an element of that, where it talks about ‘incompetence, dishonesty and greed’ and of decades of government and corporate failure.
Those who have ‘No trust in politicians’ has risen from 12% to 47% since 1987. Is it any surprise?
Labour Party research from 2017 claimed Tory plans to scrap the winter fuel payment for better-off pensioners could lead to almost 4,000 additional deaths over winter. Now the Labour government is carrying it out.
In the past 14 years, 1,200 youth clubs have closed, 1,100 children’s centres and nurseries, 1,400 libraries, 1,600 public toilets. No part of the country is untouched by the housing crisis. The local government funding ‘black hole’ stands at £4.3 billion, and will grow to £8.5 billion next year. Birmingham Council has already directly cut 13,000 jobs since 2010, for example. The same is reflected in every town and city.
Darzi’s NHS report that came out this week talks about the £14 billion gap in spending on health compared to the rest of the developed world. It details huge mortality rates and deaths, starvation of investment, crumbling buildings, record levels of sickness, sickness and exhaustion amongst NHS staff. And Labour says ‘You wont get anymore money without reform’.
Even the Financial Times has warned that Starmer “cannot escape the fact, that curing the NHS will need money too!” It also raises at the same time the prospect of moves to a European-style social insurance model with greater private market access in order to attract investment.
Economy
Real GDP per head has risen by just 5% over the last 16 years, after going up by 46% over the previous 16. The UK once used to fear being caught by France or Germany but now faces the prospect of being overtaken by Poland in 2031.
The Times has made the point that even with government tax cuts, subsidies and investments and other perks, the economy is unlikely to be very responsive, given the sluggish modern-day character UK capitalism and business.
Britain has record levels of government debt. Its economy is full of ‘zombie companies’ and businesses surviving hand-to-mouth, paying off interest only on record levels corporate debt.
The government is walking a tightrope on how to manage its debt. There are plenty of spikes in the road that could accelerate the economic crisis and force Starmer’s government into quicker and harder confrontations with the working class.
Workers’ opposition
Starmer is desperate to show the capitalist class that he can be trusted to act in its interests. But how long can it last? Will this government, or Starmer himself, last until 2029?
The capitalist class is clearly trying to boost the authority of the Labour government, fearful of its lack of social base and its ability to implement policies in the interests of the capitalist bosses.
At the same time, the government, under pressure – including from further strike action – is desperate to appease working-class anger which will grow even greater with further cuts coming down the road. That’s what is behind its limited concessions on workers’ rights, the details of which are still to be fought over. The government is already attempting to step back or blur the lines over promises made in advance of the general election.
We have to welcome any reforms in the interests of the working class, however limited. But use it as an opportunity to raise what is really needed and how it can be fought for.
The vast majority of workers do not see the Labour government as representing their interests. But there are some who are still waiting and hoping for something from this new government. And there will be trade union leaders who lean on that mood, trying to persuade their members to ‘give Labour more time’. But there is no prospect of Labour avoiding huge battles with the organised working class.
The government has been able to get a whole number of public sector pay deals over the line. Even if it resolves the remaining pay disputes too, the issues will arise again quickly with new pay rounds in the Spring, as well as over issues of implementation and funding, and cuts to jobs and services.
Political opposition
It’s not possible to predict when big movements will take place. But the lessons of the strike wave have not gone away, including that striking works. Despite its best efforts, this government will be rocked by mass working-class struggles. Protests and strikes may be the first roads taken in opposing the new government, but the need for that action to have a political expression will also be quickly posed.
The issue may be raised especially sharply in the public sector trade unions which are currently directly funding the Labour Party. It could also develop in unions representing workers in failing industries facing job losses and attacks where issues like nationalisation, if fought for, could become a central issue.
Jeremy Corbyn has long been a member of the parliamentary groups of several trade unions, particularly those with more left leaderships. What’s to stop the other independent MPs and the ‘rebels’ suspended from Labour playing that role?
If the trade unions put demands on these MPs to act on their behalf in parliament, advancing policies in the interests of members, these forces could develop along the lines of a workers’ bloc of MPs, looked to by sections of the working class coming into struggle. Even at a local level, what’s to stop Trades Union Councils approaching MPs and asking them to act on their behalf in parliament, for example?
Developing political opposition to Starmer’s government along those lines would be a step forward. It would be an important reference point with which to raise what is needed in the form of a new mass workers’ party, with the central role of the working class as an organised form and the trade unions.
There is a whole array of forces identifying the political vacuum of working-class political representation and looking to take shortcuts to fill it, bypassing the working-class itself taking steps towards its own political representation.
At this stage, the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition is still best placed to reach a layer of workers and push forward that process. That includes fighting for the biggest possible stand in next May’s local elections, which are largely to County Councils.
It also includes fighting in council by-elections, including St Michaels ward in Coventry, where Socialist Party National Committee member Dave Nellist will contest the seat which he held between 1998-2012.
Elections like these are important opportunities to point the way forward for what is needed. For example, we can raise that councils must step in to fund emergency heating grants for those affected by the Winter Fuel Payment cuts. And then fight the government for the funding.
In areas where there are no elections, we can revisit the idea of peoples’ budgets, bringing together trade unions and campaigners to draw up a plan for what is needed in our communities – and raising the need for a political force to fight for it.
Youth and students
Also this autumn, Socialist Party members will be taking our ideas into universities, which themselves face a deep crisis. In response to questioning over the summer, Jacqui Smith, minister for skills said: ‘We’ll let some universities go bust’.
The capitalists quickly responded to correct her. The Financial Times said: “The collapse of even a handful of the UK’s 140-plus universities would not have the same cataclysmic effect as a run on the banks but the consequences would be serious… If one or more higher education institutions were to collapse, the government would have little option but to step in to protect the wider reputation of one of the UK’s globally successful industries – regardless of what ministers are currently saying.”
Any government intervention opens the door to us raising the need for workers’ and student oversight of where the money is going, how it is spent. It is an opportunity to raise the need for fully publicly funded, free education.
Many of the young people coming to university this autumn will have voted Labour to get rid of the Tories. Many will have already seen what the Labour government means on issues such as Gaza, the two-child benefit cap and the Winter Fuel Payment. But Rachel Reeves’s budget on 30 October has the potential to include more direct attacks on students, including the possibility of a fees increase.
The Socialist Party has to be prepared to act and to help lead developing protests and movements. That starts by the vital task of helping to build Socialist Students groups in universities.
There are huge opportunities for us to build amongst young workers too, including building support in the youth sections of trade unions. The development of strikes and unionisation at Coventry Amazon is a glimpse of how workers not yet organised can move into action.
We have to prepare for workers to be thrown into struggle by developing capitalist crisis in Britain. There are huge opportunities to win support for socialist ideas and for us to play a role in helping to lead working-class struggle.
