Campaigns

Thousands of students have begun university with tuition fees rising for the first time in over a decade, increased by a Labour government. While a financial crisis is sweeping universities, Keir Starmer rolled out the red carpet for bigot-in-chief Donald Trump.

I don’t trust Starmer within an inch of my life. They say things and then we find they mean nothing. I have a disabled niece, she is autistic, has a learning disability, is non-verbal and goes to a special school.

Southwark Trades Council hosted a public meeting on 24 June to discuss trade union political representation. A range of activists and political groups were invited to attend.

Hundreds of thousands of people marched through the streets of London on 21 June, to oppose the government’s support for the Israeli state’s war on Gaza, and escalating war in the Middle East.

Haringey Labour council has agreed to hike council tax by 5%, and continues to cut services and attack its workers. Teachers are striking against class size increases and housing maintenance workers in Unite the Union are in a long-standing dispute with the council.

Protesters gathered to oppose cuts, a council tax hike, and plans to sell off local assets. The Labour council aims to put up council tax by 10%, council rents by 2.7%, and cut council tax support by 10%.

Housing is a key part of the cost-of-living crisis. So our West London Socialist Party meeting titled “Urban planning and privatisation: Who owns all the land?” was timely.

The fight is on to save another local cultural centre in Newham, East London. Performing arts union Equity protested outside the Labour council’s cabinet meeting on 3 December, demanding an emergency grant for Applecart Arts.

We believe if we hadn’t been out campaigning, the centre would have silently been closed. But the campaign has paid off, at least temporarily, and the decision to close the centre was pushed back.