Nick Chaffey, Socialist Party national committee
Four million workers are living in poverty – a rise of more than half a million over five years, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Over four million children are also stuck in poverty – and the numbers are rising.
We say: not one more day of Tory austerity. Not one more hungry child. Not one more homeless person. Not one more social care package cut.
These are the real issues enmeshed in the current Brexit crisis. And to solve them requires socialist policies along with mass action by working-class people.
The clock is ticking on the Brexit time bomb which threatens to blow the Tory party apart and pave the way for a new general election. Unable to satisfy her warring Tory factions, May’s Brexit deal is on the rocks.
For the millions hit by this cruel decade of austerity, the question is how to sink May and the Tories?
As weak and divided as they are, the Tories will not go without a fight. Corbyn must turn up the heat and mobilise the millions who were inspired by his general election anti-austerity manifesto.
The trade union leaders must also mobilise the unions’ six million members and together, organise a mass national demonstration under the slogans of “Tories out, general election now, end austerity”.
The tremors of working-class anger can be felt around the country on the picket lines of council workers in Glasgow and Birmingham, and the train guards’ pickets across the country.
Protests against Universal Credit, a brewing revolt in schools against funding cuts, along with a deeper winter NHS crisis, all add to the pressure on May. What if Labour-run councils instead of wielding the Tory axe, joined the fight and refused to carry out further Tory cuts to our services?
The Socialist Party has consistently argued for a socialist alternative to end Tory rule and austerity. As the anti-austerity protests across France show, the EU bosses’ club faces its own crisis.
Events have confirmed the weak and feeble position of the Tories. Now we must seize the time, mobilise around the call for an immediate general election, and drive the Tories out! Join us in this fight!
- Editorial: Corbyn and trade union movement urgently need to fight for a general election to kick out the Tories
Protest against May’s Brexit deal
Tuesday 11 December at 5pm. Join the socialist bloc!
Meet at Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7GA, next to St Thomas’ Hospital, before marching to parliament