By ISL
Keir Starmer became the British prime minister on 6 July after the Labour party won a landslide election with 410 seats that decisively swept the Conservatives out of power, as their vote fragmented. Labour only won 33.7% of the vote, John Curtice, a prominent polling expert, said the result was “the lowest share of the vote won by any single-party majority government,” as compared to 2017 when Jeremy Corbyn won 40% of the vote. The Liberal Democrats won 71 seats which is their best result in a century and political parties excluding Labour and Conservative gained their highest vote and number of seats in over 100 years [1] – Reform UK (5 MPs) the Green Party (4 MPs) and several pro-Palestinian independent candidates won formerly safe Labour seats (5 MPs). A significant dynamic of the election was a widespread desire for change from existing governments – Tory in England, SNP in Scotland, and Labour in Wales.
However, turnout was just 52%, the lowest since universal suffrage was achieved in 1928, and the Institute for Public Policy Research note that in constituencies with a high proportion of people from ethnic minority backgrounds, voter turnout was 7% lower.
Reform UK
Reform UK’s Nigel Farage was elected on his 8th attempt to become an MP. His upstart right-wing anti-immigration party won more than 4 million votes (14%), making it Britain’s third-most-voted-for party. Its populist politics gained traction with sections of the middle class and disgruntled workers who prefer to scapegoat immigrants for the ills of the country rather than the deep-seated crisis of capitalism which is the cause of cost of living crisis and ongoing austerity. 170 of seats by the Conservative party were outvoted by Reform.
Northern Ireland
Building on recent victories at the 2022 assembly election and the 2023 local government elections, Sinn Féin emerge as the largest party for the first time in the history of northern Ireland. Irish republicanism, with a history of abstentionism from the British parliament, means Sinn Féin will not take their seats or vote in the Westminster parliament.
With 5 seats the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) dropped to second place, following years of unionist division and disillusionment over Brexit, the creation customs and border checks and an undermining of the ‘peace process.’ This is in stark contrast to their position in 2017, when their 10 seats held sway in the hung parliament as they made an agreement with the minority Conservative government.
Whilst opinion polls suggest there is no overall support for united Ireland, they do suggest there is support from a majority of young people in northern Ireland. A question that may be raised in the forthcoming period of economic crisis in the north and south. [2]
Pro-Palestinian MPs
Jeremy Corbyn joins 4 independent pro-Palestinian MPs, to form a group of 5. Following shock Labour defeats, the newly elected independent pro-Palestinian MPs emerge as a joint 6th largest party, ahead of the Green party (4) and Plaid Cymru (4).
One of the biggest shocks was shadow minister, Jonathan Ashworth, who lost his Leicester South seat (previously 22,000 majority), after 13 years in a constituency where 30% of the electorate identify as Muslim
Labour’s vote in constituencies where 20% or more of the population identify as Muslim, is reduced by an average of 23%. Shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting of Ilford North, saw his majority slashed from more than 9,000 to 528. Demonstrations continued every week throughout the election period in London and other cities showing Israel’s genocidal war and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza remains a key issue. A Lancet study says, the accumulative effect of the war on Gaza means the true death toll is “186,000 or even more.”
While they express ‘concern’ over the deaths, Labour continues to support and arm Israel, as the foreign secretary, David Lammy, on recent visit to Israel failed to condemn the ongoing devastation and violence of the apartheid state. Nor has labour withdrawn objections to the International Criminal Court prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister, Yoav Gallant.
Austerity, poverty and privatisation continue
Attending a NATO summit, Starmer confirms an increase in military spending by 2.5% of GDP, costing £57.5 billion a year. At the same time saying a pay increase for public sector workers is unaffordable, and £3.5 billion a year to end the two-child benefit cap (which would lift 400,000 children out of poverty) is unaffordable.
Trade unionists at the Durham miners gala call for the repeal of all anti-union legislation, immediate investment in public services, and public ownership of privatised utilities. Workers will continue to apply pressure to achieve these goals, new strikes will emerge and neighbourhoods will mobilise in opposition to both the bosses and Labour, as Labour’s neoliberal policies will not improve the lives of the working class.
Keep Our NHS Public highlights the problems that will be faced under the Labour government – they are not committed to investing what is required after 14 years of austerity, not to funding the restoration of NHS staff, as they insist the priority is a thoroughgoing reform (read more cuts), but without a commitment to ending the wasteful, destructive investment and takeovers by the private sector.
Liz Kendall, work and pensions minister, claims the rising levels of ‘economic inactivity’ are unacceptable and demands immediate action, as she continues Tory policies of focusing resources and rhetoric on getting people ‘back to work’, saying too many people are off sick, without any attention or resources to address the health problems and their causes that workers face.
With neoliberalism underpinning all policy areas, Labour will not build public council houses and will not introduce rent controls. There will be no resolution to the housing crisis faced by low-wage and poor people and the minimum wage will not be increased to lift millions out of poverty.
Britain’s economic decline
The UK economy’s relative decline is revealed by a long-term fall in productivity growth compared to other imperialist economies, particularly in the 21st century.
Parasitic business investment has steadily fallen since 2008. Total UK investment in GDP has been lower than in other comparable capitalist economies and has been declining over 30 years. The UK’s investment performance is worse than that of every other G7 country. Compared to Japan, the USA, Germany, France, Italy, and Canada. The UK in 2022 languishes after 3 consecutive years in last place for business investment in 2022, a position held for 24 out of the last 30 years. [2]
The crisis of British capitalism, its failure to invest and raise productivity, is illustrated by the marked decline in profitability, as competition is increasing following conflict between China and the USA, and Germany and France.
Build a new workers party
Many activists want to know why the system is so brutal and unjust and how to end genocidal wars. Workers feel powerless but remain determined to end the barbarity in the world.
The strike wave gave a glimpse of what is possible, and during the election period, unusually, many workers took strike action, marches for Palestine and student Palestinian encampments continued. However, the day after the election threats were made to students demanding they end the encampments, marking the beginning of Labour’s government with university and police brutality.
There is not an independent class party to represent working class interests so we must build a party for and of the working class with its own political voice, grounded in workers democracy, union militancy and activism. We need to create of a political body to struggle at all levels in workplaces, in the streets, the neighbourhoods and in the electoral arena. We need a party that prioritises the working class and all oppressed groups and recognises that the climate crisis and environmental disaster harms and exploits the working class and marginalised societies.
This party cannot be led by self-appointed cliques or bureaucrats, it must be led by strikers, activists from our neighbourhoods, and activists from struggles against oppressions and environmental campaigners, working together in a combative workers party that is internationalist fighting for the rights of all.
Join and build the International Socialist league
At the same time, workers must construct a revolutionary socialist party, which can guide the struggle towards replacing the capitalist system with a new system that seeks to fulfil human needs instead of private profits.
As demonstrated in Marx’s Capital, this global system thrives solely on the exploitation of workers. Capitalism relentlessly strives to extract as much value from the workers as possible, causing the daily oppression that reinforces the extraction of surplus value. We fight for equality, justice, and freedom, but can only win partial gains on a national or global scale unless we overthrow capitalism and its system. That is why the International Workers League Fourth International fight to rebuild the Fourth International
The ISL is working to build a revolutionary socialist party for all workers and all oppressed people.
[2] https://www.fpri.org/article/2022/06/sinn-feins-victory-in-northern-ireland-has-their-day-come/
[3] https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2024/07/02/broken-britain/
