Nine months ago,
on 12 September 2015, Jeremy Corbyn was elected by an overwhelming mandate of
nearly 59.5% first preference votes.
Fast-forward to
today and we are currently facing the most turbulent time in British politics
in this lifetime. With the Leave campaign coming out top on the referendum of
the European Union, there is huge economic uncertainty that is having a domino
effect across our communities.
It is important,
however, to recognise that economic instability is not something that was born
overnight in the UK. Although not as
acute as at present, this is something that has been going on for years, since
the 2008 recession. Ever since the Conservative government got their foot in
the door by carrying out a Con/Lib coalition and continued from that with the
2015 election, when they won by 36.9% of the vote, they have been carrying out
crippling austerity, hitting the most vulnerable in society the hardest.
Thursday’s
referendum sent out a clear message from the British public. They are not happy
with the status quo and they want to see change. To put this down to racism,
stupidity and an older generation that no longer cares for young people is a
lazy and extremely unhelpful stance. Johnson, Gove and Farage lead an tremendously
twisted campaign, based around immigration, in which they blamed the pressures on the welfare state and the rise in poverty that we have seen over the past six
years on people who have moved here from overseas - including those fleeing
from wars and persecution. This is simply not true. Austerity is a
political choice that involves pushing the poorest people further into poverty
whilst keeping the richest comfortably afloat.
Now, as I said, to
blame the poorest people who voted leave of being racists is simply not helpful
at all. These are some of the people who have been hit the hardest by cuts to
public services and benefits. They are desperate to stamp out what is causing
their problems and the likes of UKIP offered them an answer. The wrong answer,
of course, but an answer all the same. You cannot threaten the poorest during a
referendum like Thursday’s by using an economy that is already failing them.
Telling these people to vote remain in a referendum based on the economy was
never going to work, as they had nothing to lose from voting leave.
Right now the only way to challenge the Tories and challenge racism
is to have a strong anti-austerity opposition. Jeremy Corbyn seems to be the
only leader who has mapped out an alternative to the Conservatives financial
plans that continue to pray on the weakest and most vulnerable.
The last two days have seen huge numbers of the PLP resign from
their posts on the claims that Corbyn did not do enough to persuade Labour
voters to remain in the EU and that he was not a strong enough leader. These
claims are absurd, not least because the Labour party saw 63% of members
backing Remain (just 1% less than the SNP membership), but also because of everything
else that he has fought and won during his opposition of just nine short
months; reversing cuts to disability allowance, reversing cuts to tax credits,
reversing cuts to Police and the U-turn on Saudi prisons. Firefighters have
also restored ties with Labour since Corbyns leadership and he has successfully
reconstructed PMQ’s to include more questions from the general public, not to
mention gaining significant amounts of new Labour members. I welcome anyone to
argue that any of this this does not show strong leadership. Even now, Corbyn’s
refusal to be forced into resignation against the will of the electorate speaks
volumes about his leadership qualities.
We must also think back to the last two general elections in which
Labour put forward Tory-lite policies that did absolutely nothing to inspire
voters and caused movement towards far-right parties such as UKIP. The working
class felt abandoned by New Labour and didn’t feel that their voices were being
heard.
The fact that the Blairites of the PLP have done this now has
nothing to do with the referendum result and everything to do with their
own person gains and beliefs that do not represent the party members. This is not a reaction to the referendum
result – this is well planned out strategy that has been building ever since
Corbyn was first elected to lead the party and shows just how out of touch they
are with the Labour membership. To force Corbyn to resign would not only be exceptionally
undemocratic - taking into account his overwhelming mandate – but has also been
so damaging to the party when they have this opportunity of the Conservatives being
at their most vulnerable. The timing of this theatrical display of selfishness,
has made it abundantly clear that the MP’s that have resigned would rather see
a Tory led government than a Corbyn led Labour government.
Who would replace Corbyn and lead the party? Trying to go for a
Tory-lite, austerity-lite stance has failed Labour again and again. And for
good reason. The belief that immigration is responsible for the economic pressures
people are feeling is simply a product of the effects of austerity. The only
way to stop the blame of immigrants for the damage to the working class is to
oppose austerity at all measures – to send out a message to those who are
suffering that the reason for this is not our neighbors but the Westminster
elite. We need an opposition strong enough to demonstrate that the Conservative
governments reign of austerity and neoliberalism is responsible for the rises in
child poverty, in-work poverty, homelessness, food banks, cuts to public
services and the strains on our beloved NHS.
As George Galloway said, by the end of this week we may be looking
at the possibility of two Labour parties. One in Parliament and one in the
country. One with 200 members and one with hundreds of thousands of members and
millions of affiliated trade unions.
One that mimics the Tories failing budgets and one that has a clear
strategy to oppose poverty at all cost.
I know which one I will be voting for.
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