Gareth Bromhall, Swansea and west Wales Socialist Party
Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, in Wales and across the UK, is in crisis. It has lost a member every ten minutes after last year’s election.
Anger over the two-child benefit cap, the scrapping of winter fuel payments, changes to inheritance tax rules involving farmers, and the government’s continued role in the war on Gaza has erupted into protest.
The 2.8% public sector pay offer and the ongoing appeasement of Trump in order to preserve the ever-fragile ‘special relationship’ mean more working-class ire directed at the government is on the horizon.
Meanwhile, after the Tories’ electoral collapse, cost-of-living crisis and lack of a mass working-class alternative, Nigel Farage and Reform are making hay. Recent polls have put Reform ahead of both Labour and the Tories for the first time.
But Reform doesn’t offer an alternative that will solve the issues working-class people face. It is in favour of more NHS privatisation, zero-hour contracts and allowing bosses to fire and rehire workers on worse conditions. And it is against the right for workers to organise in trade unions. By pitching workers against each other, it tries to weaken the united struggle of the working class against the bosses’ interests
Reform councillor
Thursday 13 February saw the first directly elected Reform councillor in Wales, elected with 47% of the vote. It is being treated by many as a ‘canary in the mine’ in relation to Reform’s position ahead of next years Senedd (Welsh parliament) elections.
There are many reasons why voters are abandoning Labour: cost of living, winter fuel allowance cuts, lack of improvement in public services and broken promises, all come above immigration which came eighth in a recent poll.
This hasn’t stopped them ramping up anti-migrant rhetoric. Recent social media ads, in Reform’s iconic teal branding (right) – have been put out by the Labour Party with the message “LABOUR HITS FIVE YEAR HIGH IN MIGRANT REMOVALS” coating themselves in not just the rhetoric but also the livery of the far-right.
The way to cut across support for Reform, and the populist right in general, is not to parrot their policies or legitimise their divisive politics. Starmer is attacking migrants while the system he defends means worsening living standards for us all.
What is needed is a mass working-class party, backed by the trade unions and with a socialist programme that offers a genuine alternative – nationalisation, fully funded NHS and council services, better pay and conditions, investment in infrastructure and education, and a mass council house building programme.
A stark contrast to what is currently on offer from all main parties including Reform. We need jobs, homes and services for all, not racism.
