MATT WRACK, the President of the TUC and the general secretary of the FBU, correctly said on election day, July 4th, that Labour’s post-election honeymoon would be short-lived unless Labour takes immediate action to deliver on workers’ rights and brings a swift end to 14 years of public sector pay restraint.
He added that PM Starmer should convene a summit within days to plan how Labour would deliver for workers. Wrack continued: ‘Unions should be invited to set out their priorities,’ warning: ‘If there is a honeymoon for Labour it could be short-lived unless the government responds to the pent-up anger after 14 years of pay restraint.’
In fact, the new Labour Health Secretary Wes Streeting’s first words in office, after Labour’s huge victory where they emerged with 412 seats with the Tories shattered on 121 seats, was to state that ‘The NHS is broken.’
In fact, the 1945 Labour landslide had a majority of 145, against the current overall Labour majority of 181 – a figure which speaks volumes for the intensity of the current struggle of the British working class and the huge power that it wields.
Streeting added that he will start talks with the medical trade unions on ending the junior doctors’ strikes. In fact, the talks must be to announce that the Labour government has conceded to the junior doctors!
After all, the electorate has reacted to the crisis-ridden Tory Party’s polices, from NHS-smashing to union-bashing, by slashing the percentage of the Tory vote to 23.7% leaving the once mighty Tory Party adrift with just 121 seats – a catastrophic and justly deserved disaster for the Tories.
Labour, with 33.8% of the vote captured 411 seats, with the working class delivering a huge blow to the Tory Party. Labour is by far the biggest of the parliamentary parties. It has now, 411 seats in the House of Commons compared to 238 seats for the combined Tory, Reform, Liberal Democrats, Green, SNP and other parties.
In this election the working class has turned to the Labour Party, and given it its chance to fight for a socialist future. However, Starmer and the Blairites are not interested in socialism. They are doing well under capitalism.
The Labour Party must be forced to the left by the trade unions and the Blairite rabble must be defeated so that the working class is able to go forward to socialism. This means rapidly building up the WRP and its youth section the Young Socialists to lead the developing British socialist revolution to its victory.
President of the TUC and firefighters’ leader Wrack has already demanded, before voting finished, that Labour Party leader Starmer convenes a summit with the trade unions within days to plan how Labour will deliver for workers.
However, there is no doubt that the current Labour Party leaders will set out to dump the working class by turning the NHS back into being part of the private sector, however much suffering this causes the millions of the working class and the youth, and by keeping the anti-union laws to illegalise strikes.
In fact, the workers’ triumph in the general election must be followed up by the TUC demanding a workers’ government that will draw up a policy that wages should rise automatically with rises in the cost of living and that job losses must be vetoed in favour of shortening the working week, with no loss of pay.
The British working class must insist that its trade union leaders must tell Labour that the House of Commons will have to finance a further development of the NHS, as well as recognising the State of Palestine and arming its forces so that it can defend itself adequately.
The UK working class is far more powerful than the out-of-date British ruling class.
In the UK, the working class must now move to take the power with the trade unions taking the lead in general strike actions to carry through the British socialist revolution. Capitalism must be consigned to the dustbin of history by the socialist revolution of the working class. Now is the time to join the WRP and the Young Socialists to organise the British socialist revolution!
