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JOHN MCDONNELL told hundreds gathered at the With Banners Held High festival that Labour and the trade union movement is on the rise again, writes Peter Lazenby.
The shadow chancellor was speaking at the annual event in the city of Wakefield in West Yorkshire.
“The labour and trade union movement is growing stronger,” he said to a cheering crowd, which included young activists from the McDonald's fast-food chain.
“We are building our movement and we are ready to replace the Tory government."
The banners of miners, public-service workers, trade union councils and others were paraded through the city to the open-air venue of the festival.
The festival began four years ago to mark the 30th anniversary of the end of the 1984-5 miners’ strike against pit closures.
Since its launch it has grown to be a wider celebration of campaigning trade unionism.
In addition to Mr McDonnell, speakers included TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady and Yorkshire Labour MP Jon Trickett, whose Hemsworth constituency includes former mining communities devastated by the Tories’ destruction of the coalmining industry.
