Let us be clear what the Tory welfare bill will mean. If the parents of more than two children are precipitated into claiming benefits through a change in circumstances, like redundancy, a partner leaving them or being bereaved, then their children will suffer. If you are a women with, say 4 children, in a violent abusive […]
British democracy requires a Corbyn victory
Jul 21st, 2015 by Andy Newman.Yesterday marked a turning point in the Labour leadership battle. Neither of the trade unions with a leaning towards the Blairite wing of the party backed Liz Kendall. Community announced that they were backing Yvette Cooper, and Usdaw announced that they were backing Andy Burnham. This follows Kendall’s relatively poor performance in gaining nominations from […]
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The state of the unions today
Jul 4th, 2015 by Andy Newman.There is no doubt that the election of a majority Conservative government in May was a considerable setback for working people. Under Ed Miliband, the Labour Party were proposing a number of positive reforms to employment law that would have improved rights at work, and tackled some of the more pernicious and exploitative aspects of […]
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Paul Kenny – a hard act to follow
Jun 16th, 2015 by Andy Newman.The scenes at GMB Congress last week in Dublin were electrifyingly emotional when General Secretary, Paul Kenny, announced that there would be an election for General Secretary, but that he could not commit to another five years. The affection that activists hold for PK meant that when the news that many of us were expecting […]
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The narrow Blairite base of Liz Kendall
Jun 16th, 2015 by Andy Newman.Very interesting chart from Jonathan Jones (@JJ_159), plotting MPs votes in the 2010 leadership election against their nomination behaviour in 2015. Note that Liz Kendall has very few nominations from outside the camp of MPs who voted for David Miliband, suggesting that she would be a very divisive leader. The broad spread of nominations for […]
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New TUC polling on voter attitudes
May 21st, 2015 by Andy Newman.The TUC are today publishing vital polling information, which throws light on the areas where Labour needs to improve, if we are to win the next election. The polling was conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner on behalf of the TUC, straight after the election. The findings are available as interactive graphs, allowing users to compare different […]
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Chuka seeks to “weaponise” Swindon
May 13th, 2015 by Andy Newman.Chuka Umunna’s odd decision to launch his leadership bid with an embarrassingly amateur video filmed in Swindon may come back to haunt him. It is hard to disagree with Dan Hodges’s assessment at the Telegraph that: Formally announcing his candidature via a Facebook video filmed in the centre of Swindon, it was pretty obvious what Umunna […]
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The difficult coming weeks
May 6th, 2015 by Andy Newman.On the eve of the general election it seems clear that, discounting any last minute, game-changing surprise, we are headed for a hung parliament. If the polls are right, and they may not be, the Conservatives may be the largest party, and receive more votes than Labour. Both the Conservatives and Labour have fought cautious […]
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It is Sturgeon who would take Scotland out the EU
Apr 9th, 2015 by Andy Newman.The Scottish TV leader debates have been revealing. Where the SNP have had to defend their actual government record, Nicola Sturgeon has come over as tetchy, and the audience skeptical. However, the point that gripped me was that Scotland’s First Minister talked of a London Tory government taking Scotland out of the EU, against the will […]
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Public Inquiry needed – was backlisting extended into the NHS?
Mar 31st, 2015 by Andy Newman.GMB has revealed evidence that there was a plan to extend blacklisting into NHS in 2005. There needs to be an inquiry whether this plan was put into effect. Blacklisting in the construction industry came to light when in 2009 the ICO seized The Consulting Association (TCA) database of 3,213 construction workers and environmental activists used by […]
