Editorial for Issue 55 of Socialist Alternative’s monthly newspaper. Subscribe now!
Starmer has picked up where his predecessor Rishi Sunak left off, with rising bills and cuts to welfare and public sector jobs. It is more urgent than ever that we build a working-class movement to fight back.
When the Tories were kicked out following last year’s General Election, our paper described how they were “decisively punished” for their disastrous 14-year rule. However it is clear that the fight against many of the policies that defined Tory Britain – those of vicious anti-worker attacks and austerity – is far from over.
Labour’s 2024 promise of “change” looks like a cruel joke in the recent context of benefits cuts for disabled people and the axing of thousands of public sector jobs, straight out of the playbook of Elon Musk in the US. Meanwhile the crisis in public services continues to deepen, with cuts to refuse services in Birmingham being the latest to provoke strong resistance from workers.
Why are they doing this?
Labour are attempting to manage the same sinking ship of British capitalism as the Tories before them, plagued by low growth, debt, and persistent inflation, compounded by the so-called ‘black hole’ in public spending. This has only been sharpened further by the demands out of Trump’s White House to raise military spending, to which Downing Street has slavishly complied.
Reeves is looking toward private-sector growth to drag the UK economy out of its malaise. This means rather than taxing the rich to fill the black hole or to finance public spending – and risking scaring away big business allies – it is the poor that are first in line for the chopping block. The most vulnerable have been the most affected so far, with swingeing cuts already affecting sick and disabled people, as well as pensioners.
Meanwhile, storm clouds are gathering on the horizons of the world economy following Trump’s ‘liberation day’ tariffs. While Westminster is hopeful for a trade deal with the US to avoid getting slapped with the heavy tariffs threatened against other countries, a global downturn will pile further pressure on the Government to ramp up cuts in the autumn.
Labour has made a lot of noise about ‘getting Britain working’ as part of the solution to the country’s economic woes. But pushing the sick and disabled into the workplace is no solution.
The jobs market is, in fact, shrinking in the face of a gloomy economic forecast, with a reduction in jobs of 78,000 in March, down to their lowest level in over four years. While the 781,000 job vacancies reported won’t meet the estimated over 1 million people to be forced off PIP and into the jobs market.
This means more competition over jobs, and a downward pressure on wages, as workers are forced to accept a lower rate for the job. In reality, these attacks on welfare have an effect on the entire working class, and should be resisted by the whole workers’ movement.
Such resistance is urgently needed already, but it will become ever more important as the year goes on, as public services groan under the strain of underfunding, and facing the likelihood of new, bigger rounds of cuts in the autumn budget.
Disaster of privatisation
Even despite Labour’s ruthlessly pro-business strategy, they have been forced to step in to save British Steel. Of course, this is not out of concern for workers’ interests, but in order to prop up an important sector of industry – the failure of which would be a huge blow to the British economy.
But while Labour have stepped in to bail out Scunthorpe’s steelworks, their priority is still private profit. Even if they do go down the road of nationalisation, they will be prepared to put it back in private hands at the nearest convenience. The steel industry will only be safe in the long term on the basis of workers’ control and management, and massive investment fuelled by taxing the rich. Nevertheless, it sets an important precedent, and we should fight to go further.
The massive privatisations carried out over the last few decades have been a disaster. Leaving industries such as steel, and key elements of public infrastructure up to the whims of the market has only meant declining quality, increasing costs, and ultimately the loss of jobs and entire swathes of industry as they buckle under the pressure of ailing British capitalism.
Utility companies too should be immediately renationalised and given a massive injection of funding to get a handle on skyrocketing household bills. What’s more, all big companies threatening layoffs and closures – not just British Steel – should be nationalised to protect jobs.
A working-class opposition to Labour
But we must be clear on how such measures can be won. They will not be willingly conceded by Starmer’s government. In the case of British Steel, their hand was forced – and even then, not before Nigel Farage had outflanked the government by joining the calls for nationalisation.
The vacuum of opposition on the left has given Farage a dangerous opportunity to pose uncontested as the defender of ordinary people. With Reform picking up election victory after election victory over recent months, they are reaping the gains from the current situation. The workers’ movement needs to position itself as a clear opponent of Starmer’s government, leading the struggle against them for the things workers desperately need.
Labour understands the threat that such a movement would pose, which is why they are so reluctant to finally revoke the Tories’ draconian anti-trade union laws. When we strike, we have the power to bring the bosses’ system to a halt. We have seen a glimpse of this power in the determined struggle of refuse workers in Birmingham, who have driven the council to declare a state of emergency, and which the national government has been forced to intervene in.
Organise to fight back
In many towns and cities, we are already beginning to see the stirrings of the sort of opposition that is needed. Disability activist groups like Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) and Crips Against Cuts have seen an uptick in action in response to Labour’s plans. Meanwhile a number of trade union disputes are brewing, with a new ballot of NEU members, as well as the potential for action by local council workers in a number of areas. By coordinating our struggles we can build a powerful movement against this government.
Mike Forster from People’s Alliance for Change and Equality (PACE) – an anti-cuts group in West Yorkshire – told Socialist Alternative “PACE is an Alliance of anti-cuts campaigners, trade unionists and many community action groups. We are demanding an end to council cuts, closures and privatisation. We’ve had some victories, but it is time we had working-class representatives fighting for all public services.”
Such groups, which are starting to emerge, and which Socialist Alternative is helping to build, are a key step to coordinating our fightback.
New party needed
Of course, local groups will not, by themselves, be able to provide the necessary challenge to the Labour government. Discussions are ongoing with groups like Collective, backed by Jeremy Corbyn, as well as various groups of independent councillors and local anti-cuts groups about launching a new political formation. This points most clearly in the direction we need for things to go. A loose connection of local groups is not going to be enough to fight the attacks coming from this government. We need a nationally organised mass left party.
Socialist Alternative thinks that it is crucial that any new formation take the form of a distinct left party of struggle, democratically controlled by its members. On that basis, we can organise around a collective political voice that can express the demands of our struggles, and further deepen our coordination on a national level.
This should start with a national meeting drawing together anti-cuts groups, trade unionists, youth campaigners and other activists to democratically discuss and decide what sort of organisation, and what sort of political programme is needed to confront Labour – and to cut across the growing support for Reform UK’s right-wing agenda.
A new party, fighting to tax the rich to save our services and reverse all cuts, and standing against rising militarism, could represent a genuine alternative for millions of working-class people. But we know big business would not stand for these measures.
It is for that reason that a new party needs a socialist programme that stands for nationalising the banks and big corporations, under workers’ control and management in order to truly take control of the massive wealth in society and put it to use in providing for the needs of the 99%. Socialist Alternative will be playing an active role in building the struggle against cuts and militarism, and in building the left party we need to challenge Starmer’s hated government – join us in the fight!
