The Starmer project is going up in smoke – but if the left cannot swiftly build a viable alternative, the country faces the grim reality of a hard-right takeover, says ANDREW MURRAY
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The French left and right face a final showdown this Sunday
The second and final vote this weekend pits the National Rally against a ‘Republican Front’ of leftists and centrists — but will the more right-wing side of this hastily assembled pact hold up, or will it side with Le Pen, asks ARKA BHADURI
POPULAR FRONT: NFP supporters rally at the Place de la Republique in a protest against the far right, in Paris, July 3 2024
POA general secretary STEVE GILLAN argues that while Labour’s 2025 Act was a step forward, a second wave of legislation is vital to restore the fundamental right to strike and end the exploitation of prison officers
Mehmet Turkmen, president of Birtek-Sen, has been cleared of criminal charges after speaking out against the high rate of workplace injuries and deaths in Gaziantep’s textile and carpet industry. OZLEM TEMENA reports
Scottish Labour's leaders cannot keep blaming Westminster for the collapse at the ballot box, says VINCE MILLS
Over 30 years since apartheid was abolished, nasty anti-migrant rhetoric sweeps the corporate media. The Commnunist Party is ready to fight back, says ROGER McKENZIE
FRED BAYER says the cuts to the congress cycle could be disastrous for the Scottish trade union movement
WITH Britain’s election being staged in the very middle of the two rounds of the French election, a “tale of two countries” is unfolding this week.
While the predictions for Britain’s election left relatively little room for speculation, the world will be eagerly watching as the French go to vote in the second round of their snap parliamentary election on Sunday July 7.
The first round of the French election took place on June 30 with 33.15 per cent votes cast in favour of Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN), 27.99 per cent votes in favour of the leftist New Popular Front (NFP) alliance, and 20.04 per cent votes going to President Emmanuel Macron’s ruling centrist coalition Ensemble.
The popular support for the French far right in the outcome of the European Parliament’s election on June 9 was the precise threat under which President Macron dissolved the National Assembly and announced the snap election.
The same threat brought the hitherto fragmented leftist forces together. The NFP is a coalition formed by the Socialist Party, the Communist Party, the Greens, and the left-wing France Unbowed (LFI).
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