Dean Young, Liverpool South Socialist Party

Zarah Sultana MP spoke at an unofficial Your Party branch meeting in Crosby, Sefton on 7 February. We were pleasantly surprised to see a well-attended meeting of 100 people.

In the meeting, Zarah spoke, and then it broke into a questions and answers section. Zarah’s speech particularly focused on “organising where hate is taking root”, “the need to stand nationally in elections and target winnable seats”, also referencing the need to fight austerity “as Liverpool knows how to do.”

Myself and another Socialist Party member, Conor O’Neill, took the opportunity to raise the issue of a no-cuts election stand during the Q&A. We pointed to the new petition ‘Greens Must Pledge: No Cuts To Services’, calling on “new Green Party leader, Zack Polanski, to ensure that in this year’s local council elections, no candidate shall appear on the ballot paper on behalf of the Greens, who has not made a public commitment to vote against all cuts and closures to council services, jobs, pay and conditions should they be elected as a councillor on 7 May.”

Lots of people in attendance supported that stance, 28 people signed the petition (including Unite, PCS, Prospect, Unison and UCU union members), including Zarah Sultana (pictured).

We also highlighted the policy voted for at Your Party’s founding conference in favour of bringing together trade unions, socialist groups, and community organisations to draw up ‘people’s budgets’ to meet the needs of communities, then for Your Party candidates to take those policies into the council chambers. Lots of the people we spoke to were interested in attending the people’s budget conference in Liverpool on 21 February, something Socialist Party members have been instrumental in planning.