WITH the UK’s Labour government set to face challenges from the left to the King’s Speech today, the Fire Brigades Union has urged MPs to back amendments on repealing the child benefit cap, on ending arms sales to Israel, and for public ownership of water.
Matt Wrack, Fire Brigades Union general secretary, said: ‘With the Tories swept from power, Labour can and should take the opportunity to tear down their legacy of child poverty and privatisation, and to end British complicity in the slaughter in Gaza.
‘The King’s Speech contains a number of welcome policies, including on workers’ rights, but trade unions would like it to go further in a number of areas. Freshly elected MPs have a democratic mandate from their constituents and must be free to fight for their interests.
‘The Fire Brigades Union urges MPs to back amendments to the King’s Speech that seek to scrap the two-child limit on benefits, end arms sales to Israel, bring water into public ownership, and which seek to overturn the misery inflicted by Tory rule.’
Meanwhile, Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves, appearing on the BBC yesterday morning, was asked if she is willing to give teachers and some NHS workers the 5.5% pay increase proposed by independent pay review bodies.
Reeves said: ‘I really value public sector workers, in our hospitals, in our schools, in our police as well. At the moment we are looking at those pay review body recommendations, doing the analysis, we will work with public sector workers on that.
‘But we also know that there is a cost to not settling, a cost of further industrial action, a cost in terms of the challenge of retaining doctors and nurses and teachers as well. But we’ll do it in a proper way and make sure that the sums add up.’
Various parts of the public sector have pay review bodies – bodies representing over 500,000 teachers and 1.36m NHS workers have made a recommendation for a 5.5% rise.
Laura Kuenssberg pushed Reeves on whether she would – in principle – ignore recommendations for public sector pay increases.
Reeves deflected the question, saying: ‘We are in a situation where there are huge spending pressures and our economy is so weak it is not generating the tax revenues that we need to fund our public services.
‘This is why we have to grow our economy, otherwise, we’ll just continue for the next five years having these conversations of “how can you afford this, how can you afford that”.’
The truth is that the British working class is not going to wait 5 weeks, no mind five years. Labour has a massive majority and it will be criminal if that majority is ignored and used to try and keep capitalism going.
With the government set to face challenges to the King’s Speech this week, the Fire Brigades Union has urged MPs to back amendments on repealing the child benefit cap, ending arms sales to Israel, and for public ownership of water. These amendments must be carried.
With the Tories smashed and on their knees, Matt Wrack is correct when he says: ‘With the Tories swept from power, Labour can and should take the opportunity to tear down their legacy of child poverty and privatisation, and to end British complicity in the slaughter in Gaza.’
With Labour now in control, the major industries must now be nationalised and put under Workers Management.
The King’s Speech contains a number of policies, including on workers’ rights. The right to strike must be immediately restored, and freshly elected MPs must have a democratic mandate from their constituents who must have the right to recall and replace them if they do not do their job properly.
The trade unions must fight for the right to work at trade union rates of pay, and with wages on a sliding scale scale to keep pace with any rises in the cost of living to cancel out inflation.
Workers must have the right to recall their MP and scrap the two-child limit on benefits, end arms sales to Israel, bring water into public ownership and overturn all the miseries inflicted by Tory rule. In fact, Parliament must see to it that wages rise on the basis of a working class cost of living index.
There is no doubt that the time has arrived to carry out the UK workers socialist revolution. There is not a moment to lose. Join the WRP and the YS today to lead the British socialist revolution as a part of the worldwide socialist revolution. Capitalism is dead – the time has arrived to bury it!