ON Saturday December 10, activists, politicians, and trade unionists from across our movement will come together for the Arise conference. As the government reels from crisis to crisis, the event could not be timelier.

After a decade of slash-and-burn austerity, and a pandemic which saw more than 150,000 deaths alongside a massive transfer of wealth from the poorest to the richest, we are now seeing a renewed and colossal ruling-class offensive on the living standards of the majority.

In his Autumn Statement, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt unveiled £28 billion in cuts to public services and announced the energy price cap would be lifted to £3,000 in April — as rising interest rates squeeze the indebted and rampant inflation swallows up wages.