STRIKE, PROTEST, WALKOUT

Every day, another pep talk from Andy Burnham about how different things will be with him as prime minister. Does it feel any different yet to you?

It still hurts when the price of the weekly shop rings up, or the rent exits the account. For all his warm words, what fundamental change has Burnham got to offer? So far, the summer policy blitz amounted to less than a pound a week off energy bills from January – by which point price rises could have already wiped that out.

Every day, another headline about the cost of Britain’s government borrowing rising. ‘We must stick to fiscal discipline’, government ministers recite, exactly like they did with Keir Starmer as prime minister.

So, to keep the casino capitalist bondholding banks happy, the status quo of underfunded and crumbling public services will remain – albeit delivered with a message of ‘hope and optimism’.

Meanwhile, young people are denied a decent future and scapegoated as ‘snowflakes’. And the Labour government finds money for bombs, missiles and other military means – like for the assistance given to the Saudi Arabian regime to bomb Houthis in Yemen.

One difference this autumn, compared to the last two with Labour in power, is the fact that three trade unions, NEU, PCS and UCU, are planning to ballot for strikes nationally: teachers in schools and colleges, and civil servants.

In each case, the union leaders have been forced to act under pressure from their members – workers who know that if you want change, it’s not enough to simply wait and see, you have to act!

Young people are set to take action on 20 November, part of an international youth strike under the slogan: ‘Fight for our future, not their wars’.

And the trade union movement should act too, starting with making good the policy passed by the TUC calling for a weekend demonstration this autumn, bringing together all those wanting to fight for real change – an end to the cost-of-living crisis and fully funded public services.