Posted by Billy Hayes

On austerity, the Labour-union link and the threat of state funding political parties

billy hayesThis is an abridged version of the speech by Billy Hayes to yesterday’s conference and AGM of the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy (CLPD)

It is a privilege to address your conference. CLPD gives coherence to everything the left stands for inside of the party – to be practical, effective and principled. There is no difference amongst us, I’m sure, on the need to return Labour government on 7 May but at present, if the situation in Scotland remains unchanged, the best we maybe saying is Labour is the largest party.  Continue reading →

Uniting against Islamophobia, antisemitism and fascism in Europe

Unite_logoAn ugly situation in Europe is turning nastier. In recent years we’ve seen a growth of racist and populist right wing parties across the continent. Many mainstream politicians have pandered to this development, choosing to blame migrants and the Muslim community for the economic and social problems that austerity has created.

On top of this, Western foreign policy in the Middle East, North Africa and elsewhere has created wars, refugees, and failed states. This is a situation which combines waging war against Muslim countries abroad, whilst scapegoating Muslims at home. Continue reading →

Unions have united for Labour victory. The party must respond to union concerns

Ed at TUC marchAll the signs are that Labour can form a majority government in 2015. Lord Ashcroft’s larger opinion polls all indicate that the Tories and Lib Dems are going to lose a lot of seats to Labour.

David Cameron seems to agree. This realisation forced him into a large Cabinet reshuffle in an attempt to find more presentable faces for the Tories. This will fail, as the faces aren’t the problem, it’s the policies.

This realisation is also dawning upon establishment forces in the media. We can expect many more of the character assassination attempts against Ed Miliband that we’ve witnessed recently. Our opponents will fight dirty because that is their character. Continue reading →

Legal loophole used to exploit agency workers must be closed

workers_rights1Day-in, day-out agency workers doing exactly the same job as their colleagues are receiving up to £500 less in their pay packet every month. Why the gaping disparity? Because employers are using a clever legal loophole to undercut permanent employees and exploit temporary workers.

This week is part of Fair Pay Fortnight and the Communication Workers Union – who represents over 200,000 postal and telecoms workers – is shining a light on the injustice facing workers on the little known ‘Pay Between Assignment’ (PBA) contracts. These contracts are as appalling as zero hour contracts, permitting employment agencies to pay workers from as little as one hour a week when not on assignments. Continue reading →

Stand up to racism – support March 22nd rally

Stand up to racism - download flyerIn the run-up to the European elections it is vital that the labour and progressive movement takes a stand against racism. The Tories are adapting to UKIP’s efforts to make immigration the central question in the election. Large sections of the media are only too happy to fuel and facilitate this agenda.

Yet the whole move is transparently racist – despite all the lofty denials from David Cameron and Nigel Farage. Nothing illustrates this more clearly than Farage’s speech to UKIP’s Spring Conference.

He spoke under the banner “Love Britain. Vote UKIP” a paraphrase of the old National Front slogan “Love Britain. Vote NF“.  Continue reading →