With the economic crisis projected to extend into the next parliament and forming the longest economic slump in modern history, two opposing political narratives are building up support, testing Labour in the coming months and years. The anti-austerity movement is growing, which the increased protests around hospitals, fire stations and thebedroom tax and a planned People’s Assembly Against [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Austerity’
Alexis Tsipras’ speech in London
Mar 20th, 2013 by Newsdesk.On Friday the 15th of March Alexis Tsipras, leader of the opposition in the Greek Parliament and leader of the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA), made a speech to a packed Friends’ Meeting House in London regarding the austerity programme in his country and the resistance against it. The text of his speech is [...]
Austerity isn’t supposed to help the economy – but to protect the rich
Mar 11th, 2013 by Mike Hedges.With Osborne’s fourth budget approaching, the Tory austerity programme is clearly in trouble. The news that a majority of people now think the cuts are not working is bad news for the Chancellor. This follows the stinging rebuke delivered to David Cameron on Friday by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) which rebutted claims [...]
Labour must fight for women – and not just one day a year
Mar 9th, 2013 by Megan Davies.It’s nearly three years since this government was formed, and every day we see more evidence to shred Osborne’s myth that we’re “all in this together”. With a cabinet whose combined personal wealth is around £70 million, it’s hardly surprising that the poorest are bearing the brunt of austerity while millionaires – like themselves – [...]
Killing a few less and doing it in a slower and more kindly fashion is no answer
Mar 1st, 2013 by Michael Meacher.Eastleigh was never going to be a Labour win, but it would have done a good deal better if people knew what Labour really stood for compared to the other parties, particularly on the economy. The one central issue on which all others turn is how to handle the deficit, yet here Labour continues to represent merely [...]
Left Unity and presenting a clear Left alternative
Feb 27th, 2013 by Kate Hudson.Britain faces two more years of disastrous coalition policies, but no coherent left political alternative is being presented. This has led a number of people from disparate parts of the left to come together to found a new website www.leftunity.org, to discuss what is necessary and possible for a left alternative, and to learn from [...]
Jean-Luc Mélenchon: for an alternative to austerity in Europe
Feb 23rd, 2013 by Newsdesk.Jean-Luc Mélenchon was recently in London and spoke to a packed hall at UCL, comprising not only many members of the Front de Gauche living in London but quite a few Labour Party members and others from the British left. For those who weren’t there, and for those who were but whose understanding was not [...]
Britain’s output per (available) worker is back to 2003 levels
Feb 23rd, 2013 by Jeremy Smith.This week, we have learnt from the Office for National Statistics that 2.5 million were still unemployed in the last quarter of 2012. The UK economy is failing to use the skills and resources of our people to best effect in the common interest. This is to a large extent because the government’s economic policies [...]
Owen Jones on austerity, class and the prospects for capitalism
Feb 18th, 2013 by Newsdesk.In the first of their Radical Voices interview series, Anticapitalists.org spoke to Owen Jones about austerity, class, ideology, and the socialist alternative in the 21st century. The Anticapitalist Initiative describes itself as “a network that enables anti-capitalist activists to debate current political issues. Where possible it aims to unite these activists to fight against capitalism, [...]
Ed’s speech and the elephant in the audience
Feb 14th, 2013 by Jon Lansman.Ed Miliband’s speech today is absolutely right to place the emphasis on living standards. The economy is central both to Britain’s recovery and Labour’s political strategy, and it is in their living standards that our people are feeling the impact of the failures of neoliberalism and austerity. The restoration of the 10p tax rate and imposition of [...]
