Chancellor George Osborne’s attempt to present himself as the champion of labour at the Conservative Party conference has come under attack from TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady after he reiterated his commitment to cutting tax credits for low-paid workers....
Labour’s Policy-Making Needs an Overhaul
Former Labour MP Harry Barnes has called for the party’s policy-making process to be overhauled to give all its members and supporters a chance to participate....
Which Way to Labour’s Radical Future?
Election defeat and Corbyn’s victory framed the discussions at the ILP’s joint conference with Compass last weekend where the prospects of Labour’s renewal and signs of radical hope were uppermost in people’s minds....
TUC Attacks Tax Credit Reforms
Trade Union Congress general secretary Frances O’Grady this week attacked the Conservative government for consigning millions of working families to poverty thanks to its proposed welfare reforms....
Labour’s Future Under Scrutiny
The Labour Party’s future is coming under scrutiny from all angles at the moment with articles, papers, analysis and discussion meetings focused on what went wrong on 7 May and what Labour should do now....
GMB Slams Tory ‘Right to Buy’ Plans
The GMB union has slammed the Conservative Party’s plans to extend the ‘right to buy’ to housing association tenants as creating a “rich harvest” for private landlords at the expense of the nation’s social housing stock....
Judging Labour’s Manifesto
HARRY BARNES casts his scrutinising eye over the details of Labour’s election manifesto, and concludes that it contains the seeds for a progressive government. At the 2014 Labour Party conference a document entitled National Policy Forum Report 2014 was adopted. My own summary of its contents appeared on my blog and covered 16 separate items....
Chartist Unveils its Anti-Austerity Manifesto
In a period awash with party election manifestoes, the left magazine and campaign group, Chartist, has unveiled its own manifesto for “a properly democratic socialist alternative to austerity”. Chartist’s 2015 manifesto is a revised version of one published by its editorial board in 2007 – “the year before financial capitalism fell in on itself”. “Capitalism...
Condition Critical
The Socialist Health Association has highlighted five ways the government’s health reforms have failed to improve patient care, the criteria used by former health secretary Andrew Lansley to defend his policies against a damning King’s Fund report last month. The King’s Fund health think tank described Lansley’s reforms as “damaging and distracting” for introducing even...
Housing and the Class Struggle
Housing, home ownership and the right to an affordable home are set to be big issues at this year’s general election, and they will be the focus of discussion at the next Wakefield Socialist History Group meeting this Saturday, 28 February....
Class Set Out What’s at Stake at Election 2015
The Centre for Labour and Social Studies has published a new election guide on the issues of work, pay and unions as part of a series of pamphlets highlighting what’s at stake in the parties’ policies for working people....
The Co-op Party Launches its Agenda for Britain
The Co-operative Party launched its election manifesto last week, the culmination of two years work setting out plans for “an economy and society that puts people first, in which the rewards of economic success are shared by all”. ‘A Co-operative Agenda for Britain’ sets out the party’s agenda on a number of areas, including energy,...