Parliamentary reporter @TrinderMatt

LABOUR Left 4 Socialism professed “unity and defiance” against factional attacks from the party’s right as it launched its manifesto on Saturday.

The new campaign, which aims to unite disparate left groups under common policy goals and demands for greater democracy in the Labour Party, set out a radical agenda for climate justice, international solidarity, workers’ rights, anti-racism and improvements to public services.

Unite assistant general secretary Howard Beckett, who chaired the event in a personal capacity, hailed a “manifesto of ideas that we can attract youth with and build for our future,” but warned that the right is “trying to silence our voices.”

Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack argued that Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer wants to make the party “safe for the Establishment” at the expense of workers.

He warned of an attempt to “return to the worst years of Blairism, to silence the voice of the rank and file, to sideline trade unionists and to drive out socialist ideas from Labour.”

Mr Wrack slammed the leadership’s weak opposition to the Tories, warning that the Covid-19 pandemic had exposed a divided nation of haves and have-nots.

Delegates at this weekend’s Labour Party conference were urged not to endorse David Evans – a key ally of Sir Keir – as the party’s general secretary, as speakers accused him of stepping up a purge of socialists from the party ahead of the vote.

Labour for a Green New Deal co-founder Chris Saltmarsh blasted Mr Evans’s disdain for members after the group’s conference motion was blocked by the party bureaucracy last week.

The Labour Party was contacted for comment.