THE current Tory government is the most right-wing in living memory and people are suffering terribly as a result. The Covid-19 virus has made around five million people sick, put almost half a million people in hospital and led to more than 150,000 deaths in the UK. But Labour has not organised or mobilised opposition.

The people need and deserve an Opposition worthy of the name.  Below are just some of the pernicious government actions that Labour needs to organise around and lead opposition to the Tories:

• Britain has had one of the highest per-capita Covid death tolls in the world – plus many now suffering from long-term health problems
• The impact of the pandemic has not affected communities equally: disabled people, women, people from African, Caribbean, Asian and other racially marginalised communities, those on low incomes, older people and frontline workers have been hardest hit
• Hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost, enabled by draconian anti-trade union laws, and thousands more will be lost when furlough ends
• The NHS is being privatised at speed, vast sums of public money have been squandered and corruption is rife in the allocation of contracts
• The Tories are using the worst “divide and rule” tactics, whipping up racism and promoting “culture wars” to divert attention from their disastrous handling of the pandemic
• Climate change poses a growing and existential threat and the Tory response is pathetic
• Our rights to protest are being severely curtailed
• Undercover police are being permitted to commit crimes, including murder
• British military forces can now commit war crimes and not face prosecution

These are just some of the many reactionary policies of the current Tory government.

Unfortunately, on almost all of these issues, Labour has not effectively opposed the Tories; on many of the issues, Labour has rather echoed the Tories’ approach, as in its racist treatment of Black members and with Islamophobic and anti-Traveller positions put forward in election campaigns and much more.

This has enabled most of these policies to be adopted with ease, thereby encouraging the Tories to go further to the right, deepening their reactionary offensive confident in the knowledge they will face no serious opposition. 

A consequence of Labour’s failure to stand up against the Tory government has been the party’s steady decline in the polls since last summer, overwhelmingly poor local election results and huge loss of votes in three by-elections.

Meanwhile, the democracy of our own party is under threat. A growing number of local parties have been taken over by unelected officials; the Forde inquiry report has not been published; many members who have spoken out have been suspended or expelled; proscriptions have been introduced against socialist groups; Jeremy Corbyn remains without the Labour whip. As a result, over one hundred thousand members have resigned from the party over the last year. 

We will not stand idly by and allow this to continue. We are, therefore, coming together in solidarity not only with the people who are being so gravely disadvantaged by this government but against the purge of the left, which is key for the Leadership to achieve its aim of reversing the socialist policies brought in under Corbyn and to make the Party a safe place for capitalism. We stand firmly against proscriptions, and stand in solidarity with every grouping that is proscribed solely for holding socialist views. We will always oppose the proscription of any groups that remain committed to supporting Labour and that do not stand or support other candidates.

As part of the ongoing fightback, a conference has been called for Labour members and activists to discuss the changes in the party that are urgently necessary and how to achieve them (Saturday September 18). The conference will be led by party members active at local and national level and by key trade unions, and organised around specific demands:

• Restoring and strengthening democracy throughout the whole of our Party
• Ending the wave of suspensions, lifting those already unjustly imposed, reversing bans and proscriptions against the left
• Committing Labour to repeal all anti-union laws, ending zero-hours contracts and “fire and rehire”, demanding fair statutory sick pay
• Ensuring that the Labour Party is actively anti-racist and supportive of international solidarity issues
• Ensuring that the Labour Party is demonstrably committed to equalities in its practice
• Ensuring that Labour becomes a place for open and respectful political discussion and learning.
• Building on, with no retreat from, socialist policies, for example as developed after 2015.
• Labour must oppose the Tories and once again make the case for a socialist transformation of society. We must fight and organise to get our party back

LIST OF INITIAL SIGNATORIES SUPPORTING THE STATEMENT

Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU)
Campaign for Labour Party Democracy (CLPD)
Campaign for Socialism (CfS), Scotland
Fire Brigades Union (FBU)
Grassroots Black Left (GBL)
Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL)
Labour Representation Committee (LRC)
Labour Black Socialists (LBS)
Labour Left Alliance (LLA)
Labour Women Leading (LWL)
@LabourLeft
Northern England Labour Left (NELL)
Red Labour (RL)
Save our Socialists (SoS)
Socialist Appeal (SA)
Welsh Labour Grassroots (WLG)