IF THE left cannot offer an alternative to the status quo “fascism beckons,” former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn warned the Matchwomen’s Festival in London’s East End.

Mr Corbyn and his wife Laura Alvarez did their first ever joint interview with Matchwomen’s Festival founder and historian Louise Raw on Saturday.

Labour in its current form was no alternative to the government at all, Ms Alvarez said. “Jeremy was the leader for five years in the Labour Party, and he couldn’t change the corruption inside the party. We need to carry on fighting and challenging this corrupt government — and right-wing MPs wherever they are.”

Mr Corbyn agreed. “If the left across Europe and North America cannot offer an alternative to working-class communities, which does increase living standards, does raise wages, does defend education, health and give real hope to young people — then fascism beckons. It’s as clear as a bell,” he said.

The pair discussed the growth of fascists targeting hotels suspected of housing refugees, with Mr Corbyn saying the rise of the far right was a Europe-wide problem, citing his work in Hungary with young people mobilising to defend immigrant communities and his run-ins with far-right MPs from Hungary, Poland and other countries via the Council of Europe.

“There’s endless debates about the problems of migration. Look at it this way: 70 million people around the world are refugees. They don’t have anywhere to call home. They’re victims of human rights abuses, victims of poverty, of war, of environmental destruction. They’ve got to find somewhere else to live. It could happen to any of us.

“The vast majority do not come anywhere near Europe but seek safety in a neighbouring country.”

They highlighted the extreme dangers faced by refugees, pointing out that in the search for 43 abducted students in Mexico, authorities had unearthed thousands of unmarked graves, mainly of women and girls presumed to be refugees travelling from central America to seek asylum in the United States but who had disappeared en route. Thousands of child refugees have also gone missing in Europe.

In 100 years, historians would be asking: “Why were refugees so badly treated in the early part of the last century? What was wrong with people?” Mr Corbyn said.