15 Articles by:
Laura Smith is a trade unionist and a Labour councillor in Cheshire East.
The Tories’ hammering in the local elections is more to do with voter disdain for the government than any enthusiasm for Labour. Starmer must produce a vision to inspire the country if he wants to be the next prime minister.
The ten days of national mourning over Queen Elizabeth II has temporarily taken over the national conversation – but it can’t cover up the scandal of Britain’s growing poverty for long.
While key workers facing poverty are being told to accept wage cuts, Downing Street is lifting pay caps for bankers. There’s class war alright – but it’s being waged by the elite.
With the pomp and ceremony of the Jubilee, the ruling class reminded us all that they love Britain – but have no problem with its children going hungry.
The local election results show that Labour can’t afford to rely solely on the government’s unpopularity. To win power, it must put the forward transformative policies the country needs.
The disgusting smear directed at Angela Rayner this weekend proved how Britain’s elites view not just women, but working-class women in particular – and we shouldn’t let their insincere apologies say otherwise.
As the Tory government and royal family sink into a pit of sleaze, it’s never been clearer that Britain’s ruling class doesn’t represent the people – it’s time for a political revolution.
It is increasingly clear that the coalition Labour built in 2017 was a rare blip amid decades of decline – but from the beginning, right-wing forces in the Parliamentary Labour Party wanted to tear it apart.
In recent months, No Holding Back has spoken to thousands of Labour activists in communities left behind by deindustrialisation. Their message is clear: the party must rebuild at its grassroots.
Years of funding cuts and a relentless drive to outsource have left councils across the country unable to serve their communities. It’s time for Labour to build a national campaign to fight back.
The safe reopening of schools has been undermined by the government’s failure on test and trace – but also by a decade of cuts which have left our schools disgracefully under-resourced.
Almost half of the women workers who have lost their jobs during Covid-19 cite lack of childcare as a factor. It’s time to recognise childcare as a public good – and make it available to everyone.
Across Britain, high streets are dying as decades of decline are accelerated by Covid-19 – it’s time to organise not only to save town centres but to transform them into genuine public spaces.
We don’t have to choose between being a small left-wing subculture or a weathervane for the right-wing press – the alternative is doing the hard work of rebuilding Labour’s roots in working-class communities.
Former Labour MP Laura Smith, who lost her seat in December’s election, responds to the Labour Together report – and argues that those who saw the disaster coming in Red Wall seats were ignored.