Just as German Social Democrats joined the Nazis in singing Deutschland Uber Alles, ANDREW MURRAY observes how Starmer tries to out-Farage Farage with anti-migrant policies — but evidence shows Reform voters come from Tories, not Labour, making this ploy morally bankrupt and politically pointless
National Insurance hike will not help
The proposed increase falls short of what's needed to cover the social care for the elderly and vulnerable, and will hit the poorest workers hardest. The real solutions rely on taxing the rich, explains JAMES MEADWAY
KEITH FLETT traces how the ‘world’s most successful political party’ has imploded since Thatcher’s fall, from nine leaders in 30 years to losing all 16 English councils, with Reform UK symbolically capturing Peel’s birthplace, Tamworth — but the beast is not dead yet
With turnout plummeting and faith in Parliament collapsing, BERT SCHOUWENBURG explains how radical local government reform — including devolved taxation and removal of party politics from town halls — could restore power to communities currently ignored by profit-obsessed MPs
As food and fuel run out, Gaza’s doctors appeal to the world to end the ‘genocide of children,’ reports LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
While Trump threatens to send Haitian gang leaders to El Salvador's terror prison, DANNY SHAW reveals how these paramilitary groups are merely symptoms of US-backed neocolonial rule — the real terrorists are the CIA and international actors arming desperate youth to traumatise an unarmed population
Having endured 14 years of Tory austerity followed by Starmerite cuts, young voters are desperate for change — but Anas Sarwar’s refusal to differentiate from Westminster means Scottish Labour risks electoral catastrophe, writes LAUREN HARPER
Mark Harvey pays tribute to a veteran of the days when the London building trade was a hotbed of working-class struggle, a legendary trade unionist, communist and poet
REPORTS this week suggest the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer have agreed on a plan to raise the cost of national insurance contributions (NICs) by one penny in the pound to pay for the rising costs of social care for the elderly and vulnerable.
Pushing up NICs is regressive, hitting poorer workers hardest; it breaks a Tory manifesto pledge; and it will not resolve the crisis in care services.
Labour’s shadow front bench should make the party’s opposition clear and insist instead on a solution to the care crisis that is fair for all: a wealth tax to pay the costs, removing speculators and private finance from provision and serious improvements in the pay and conditions of those in the notoriously poorly-paid sector itself.
There should be no question that the Labour Party and the entire left should oppose this tax hike. After a lost decade for earnings under Conservative-led governments, with pre-pandemic average pay no higher than before the 2008 financial crisis, there is no justification for squeezing working people still further.
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