-
1 week ago | 
socialistparty.org.uk | Mark Best
The results of the May 2025 elections show a deepening of the profound alienation from the two main establishment parties of British capitalism, the Tories and Labour, and of the need for the working class to build a political voice that defends our interests. The success of Reform UK needs a working-class answer.
-
1 week ago | 
socialistparty.org.uk | Mark Best
Rob Williams, Socialist Party trade union and workplace organiserThe striking Birmingham bin workers in Unite are as determined as ever to win their dispute and fight off the brutal attack on their contracts by the Labour council. After more than 50 days of strike action, the picket line I visited on 2 May was big and vocal, as the workers reacted to the latest move by the council to up the ante.
-
1 week ago | 
socialistparty.org.uk | Mark Best
Scott JonesIsrael’s security cabinet has approved a plan to expand its military offensive against Gaza, with some officials suggesting it plans to capture and occupy the whole of the strip. The Israeli military has called up tens of thousands of reservists in preparation, claiming it is “increasing the pressure” on Hamas to hasten the return of Israeli hostages.
-
1 week ago | 
socialistparty.org.uk | Mark Best
A parent and Socialist Party memberMany parents voted Labour in the general election hoping the crisis in childcare would finally be addressed. After all, Labour pledged over 3,000 new nursery classes across England. Labour’s manifesto pledged that “spare school classrooms will be converted into high-quality spaces for nurseries, paid for by ending the tax breaks private schools enjoy.”What has actually happened?
-
1 week ago | 
socialistparty.org.uk | Mark Best
Ben Goldstone, Housing worker and Socialist Party memberThe supported housing sector is on the brink of a financial crisis that could leave tens of thousands of vulnerable people homeless, organisations including public bodies, charities, and housing associations, have warned. In a letter delivered to the government, they called for swift action to save the sector, which houses 500,000 people with complex needs across England.
-
1 week ago | 
socialistparty.org.uk | Mark Best
Usdaw ADM delegatesThe shadow of the council elections loomed over retail and distribution workers’ union Usdaw’s Annual Delegate Meeting (ADM) in Blackpool 4-7 May. Several debates at the conference became, in effect, autopsies of the results. One of the timetabled debates at the conference was on the growth of the right, put forward by the National Executive Council (NEC) in response to last summer’s election of five Reform UK MPs and far-right riots.
-
1 week ago | 
socialistparty.org.uk | Mark Best
NUJ Socialist Party membersAt the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) national delegates’ meeting (DM – a biennial conference), 25-27 April, the issues of Gaza and NUJ members’ subscriptions saw the most heated debates. A majority of the DM voted for a Dublin branch motion condemning the targeting and killing of journalists and media workers in Gaza, the occupied territories and Lebanon.
-
1 week ago | 
socialistparty.org.uk | Mark Best
Resident doctors in the BMA (British Medical Association), formerly known as junior doctors, are to be balloted on pay. Junior doctors were the first to take national strike action under the Labour government, putting pressure on Starmer in the run-up to the general election and then after. They secured a 22% pay rise over two years. But the doctors’ leaders were clear at that stage: this should be the start of pay restoration back to pay levels of 2008.
-
1 week ago | 
socialistparty.org.uk | Mark Best
Newham and East London Socialist PartyStriking workers at Avenue Primary School are fighting job cuts in Newham, east London. Student numbers have dropped but redundancies go beyond safe levels. Management announced 21 support staff cuts without warning or consultation. The National Education Union (NEU) is demanding no compulsory redundancies and retaining sufficient posts.
-
1 week ago | 
socialistparty.org.uk | Mark Best
40 years ago, in April 1985, school students went on strike, organised by the Labour Party Young Socialists, in which young Militant (the Socialist Party’s predecessor) supporters played the leading role. Nancy Taaffe, now a Socialist Party National Committee member, remembers the events. We also publish excerpts from the Rise of Militant by Peter Taaffe. The actual day of the school student strike of 1985 was, on a personal level, one of the most exciting days of my life.
