ROGER D HARRIS and SARA FLOUNDERS challenge propaganda against the blockaded socialist island
Labour needs to seize the agenda and fight for a wealth tax
RICHARD BURGON MP says Labour needs to spell out a bold alternative with a National Care Service funded by taxes on the super-rich
A 5 per cent tax on wealth above £100 million, 10 per cent on wealth above £500m and 20 per cent on wealth above £1 billion would raise £97 billion
Marx and Engels incorporated in their writings a critique of the way that capitalism destroys the environment but it is only in the last half century that environmental concerns have become an integral part of the fight for socialism, writes the Marx Memorial Library and Workers’ School
The racist Republican tactic of redistricting to keep Trump and his base in power is turning the clock back to the 1950s, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
With a political crisis engulfing the Labour Party, the case for PR is back on the agenda. TONY BURKE argues trade unions must now engage on changes to our voting system
YVETTE WILLIAMS and JOE DELANEY dissect the institutional dawdling that rubbed salt into the Grenfell open wounds prolonging the agony of survivors
The HS2 debacle exposes what happens when public infrastructure is handed to private contractors – especially when set against China’s state-led high-speed rail success, says CARLOS MARTINEZ
THE debate on how to fund much-needed social care investment has forced the issue of taxation to the top of the political agenda.
Of course, the crisis in social care goes well beyond just its woeful funding - it raises issues of privatisation and profiteering, of sickeningly low pay for such important workers, of deregulation, and of the underfunding of local councils.
But our broken social care system can’t be fixed without a huge boost to funding. The Health and Social Care Select Committee, for example, says a £7bn annual increase in social care funding would only be a “starting point” and that a “substantially higher” figure would be needed.
Of course, the crisis in social care goes well beyond just its woeful funding - it raises issues of privatisation and profiteering, of sickeningly low pay for such important workers, of deregulation, and of the underfunding of local councils.
But our broken social care system can’t be fixed without a huge boost to funding. The Health and Social Care Select Committee, for example, says a £7bn annual increase in social care funding would only be a “starting point” and that a “substantially higher” figure would be needed.
It's right that the whole Labour movement is rejecting the regressive Tory plans to pay for much-needed investment through national insurance hikes. Such a hike would hit the lowest-paid workers while letting off the hook those whose income comes not from work but from wealth.
But what is Labour’s alternative to the Tory plan? It is simply not good enough to say we will wait until the next election to map out our alternative either on social care or on how we will raise the funds for investment in our public services.
An election could now be less than two years away. Labour is lagging behind in the polls, the leadership’s approval ratings have plummeted this year with the public increasingly deeming it unlikely to form the next government.
To turn this around our party needs to urgently paint a picture of what it stands for. Timidity at this time from the Labour leadership risks many more years of Tory rule.
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