Skip to main content
‘This film is a message of hope’
EXCLUSIVE: I, Daniel Blake actor Kate Rutter on why Ken Loach’s film will pave the way for a fightback

CLAIMANTS and jobcentre staff must come together to defeat the Tories’ attempts to dismantle the welfare state, an actor in Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake said yesterday.

Kate Rutter plays a benefit clerk reprimanded for trying to help the title character navigate red tape in the film — which won the top prize at Cannes on Sunday night.

Exclusively interviewed at Equity conference, the actor said the response to the film was a “message of hope” in “very dangerous times.”

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Equity General Secretary, Paul W Fleming (centre), with members at the ballot result announcement at Equity HQ, 18 December 2025. Photo: Mark Thomas
Britain / 21 January 2026
21 January 2026
Business Secretary Peter Kyle, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on stage ahead of Reeves's keynote speech during the Labour Party Conference at the Liverpool Arena, September 29, 2025
Labour Party Conference 2025 / 30 September 2025
30 September 2025

Labour will find increases in the state pension age are unacceptable, just as cuts to the Winter Fuel Allowance, personal independence payments and universal credit are — it needs to change direction immediately, writes PCS general secretary FRAN HEATHCOTE

SEEKING SOLIDARITY: Paul W Fleming is looking for support from the rest of the labour movement in fighting exploitative practices by Big Tech
TUC Congress 2025 / 9 September 2025
9 September 2025

PAUL W FLEMING is unequivocal that Labour’s unpreparedness and resulting ambiguity on copyright in the creative industries has to be reined in with policies that will reverse the growing abuse by Big Tech AI

People attending the People's Assembly Against Austerity protest in central London. Picture date: Saturday June 7, 2025
TUC Congress 2025 / 8 September 2025
8 September 2025

In the current climate, it is vital to bust the myths and put forward the case for a humane and decent social security system that supports people, argues FRAN HEATHCOTE