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Labour Roots is going to the masses

This Saturday Jeremy Corbyn will start a new tour of the towns, cities and communities of Britain – because unlike the other parties, Labour is an actual movement, writes RICHARD BURGON MP

THE next prime minister will be decided by just over 100,000 Tory members. That’s less than 0.2 per cent of the population.

What’s worse, the shortlist of two candidates will be drawn up by Conservative MPs — that’s less than 0.005 per cent.

This Saturday, the person I want to be prime minister — Jeremy Corbyn — will start a new tour of Britain, listening to the views of communities across the country about what they want from Labour.

Because unlike the Tories, Labour is an actual movement. And it’s a movement that extends even more widely than our half a million members. Our movement is made up of the communities where Labour has its roots.

That’s why I’m so excited about Labour Roots — a series of exciting, open events kicking off this weekend in my home city of Leeds.

The idea is to bring together communities, the labour movement and Corbyn and members of the shadow cabinet for a day of politics, discussion and music.

It’s so important that our movement reaches out beyond the confines of Westminster and the TV studios and goes where the Labour Party was born — in diverse working-class communities the length and breadth of the country.

So while a whole host of Tories dreaming of being prime minister parade in front of the cameras this weekend, members of Labour’s shadow cabinet will be in Leeds listening to members and non-members alike, strengthening our engagement with the grassroots.

During the day, we’ll be holding a series of discussions across the Leeds region.

In Harehills, I’ll join our shadow home secretary Diane Abbott and anti-racism activists for a discussion about how we can collectively take on racism and the far right.

We defeated Stephen Yaxley-Lennon’s hate-fuelled politics last week and that’s something to celebrate. But the fight against fascism and its gateway drug, racism, goes on.

In Leeds our shadow international trade secretary Barry Gardiner and my fellow Leeds MP Fabian Hamilton will be with activists and experts to talk about our plans for a green industrial revolution.

Our planet is under threat so we need to plan how to tackle the climate emergency and create good jobs in renewable energy at the same time.

And in Pudsey, Labour’s shadow education secretary Angela Rayner and Jane Aitchison, our brilliant parliamentary candidate, will be discussing the attacks on our public services with campaign groups and local people.

Then in the evening, we’ll be holding a rally and social with Corbyn. There’ll be speeches from shadow cabinet members and representatives from important campaigns for the area such as Orgreave Truth and Justice, feedback from the discussions earlier in the day and live music from acts like Ferocious Dog and Duncan Evans.

The evening will be rounded off with a DJ set from Leeds North West MP, Alex Sobel.

Leeds is just the start. Between now and the end of the year we’ll be taking Labour Roots out around the country, with events planned in Cornwall, Bolton, Hastings, Wallsend and Birkenhead.

Each event will be unique, driven by local Labour members, community groups and trade unions, so that it sets down roots to grow our movement.

You can register for any of the dates, including Leeds, on the Labour Roots website at www.labour.org.uk/labour-roots.

I really hope you can get involved, come along and share your ideas. Because your ideas will shape our next manifesto, which will be implemented by the next Labour government. A government which will be the achievement of the whole of our movement.

Richard Burgon is MP for Leeds East, shadow secretary of state for justice and shadow lord chancellor. This column appears fortnightly.

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