THE far right will only be defeated once the labour movement reclaims its mantle as the real challenger to vested power, corrupt politicians and a failing economic system, the Communist Party declared on Tuesday night.

Johnnie Hunter told the party’s political committee that the lesson of the local elections was that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer “is not just deeply unpopular, but so too is his platform — of more austerity and a failure to invest in public services while slavishly funding the slaughter in Ukraine and continued support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza.”

Reform UK, the big winners of last week’s local elections, “clearly represent the naked big business interests of finance both here and in the United States, and seek to mislead working people with typical anti-immigrant rhetoric,” Mr Hunter observed.