The new Employment Rights Act is a step forward, but restoring collective bargaining and union power remains essential to tackling insecurity, outsourcing and low pay, says PAUL WHITEHOUSE
THE slick continuity of Labour’s policies with those of its Tory predecessor is striking. Whether it’s foreign policy, economic policy, or social policy — the question is, really, where has there been a break in continuity? Where is the change we need to benefit our communities, to restore and rebuild the lives, hopes, and opportunities of all of us?
As we head into Labour’s first conference as the party of government for 15 years, it’s clear that vision for change is absolutely absent. In its place comes a trumpeting of values that are alien to the best traditions of the labour movement — not least when it comes to foreign and defence policies.
Indeed, Labour’s position on so-called “defence” — actually war-fighting and militarism — is thoroughly reprehensible, underpinned by a rhetoric that is at times more extreme than that of the Tories.
The defence secretary’s resignation reveals not a split over principle but a dispute over pace of military spending, as Britain’s political Establishment unites behind deeper Nato commitments, argues NICK WRIGHT
In part one of a two-part feature, CONOR BOLLINS asks whether we should be concerned about the Prime Minister’s military recruitment plans
JENNY CLEGG reports from a Chinese peace conference bringing together defence ministers, US think tanks and global South leaders, where speakers warned that the erosion of multilateralism risks regional hotspots exploding into wider war


