UK Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting took to the pages of the right-wing Sun newspaper to make his latest attack on National Health Service (NHS) workers and double down on his demands for privatisation. The Sun headlined with, “NHS NEEDS REFORM: Wes Streeting warns NHS that there’ll be no additional …
Read More »Tell Ofcom – bring Royal Mail into public ownership
Ofcom, the government regulator responsible, is asking the public for views on plans to reduce Royal Mail’s legal obligation to deliver letters 6 days a week. Don’t let them get away with this. Use our handy six-step guide to respond to the Ofcom consultation – it only takes five minutes. But …
Read More »The corporatist record of the Communication Workers Union: 2007 to 2023
Posed in the present fight against the Communication Workers Union’s pro-company agreement with Royal Mail Group (RMG) is a political reckoning with the union bureaucracy by the rank-and-file. At the start of last summer, after postal workers delivered massive strike mandates to fight Royal Mail’s attacks, the World Socialist Web …
Read More »Labour doesn’t need to shift right – it needs to get creative | Tom Kibasi | UK news
The Labour leadership contest has been largely bereft of debate about the party’s future policy platform. Recognising the shift to the left during Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, the main contenders have mostly promised to adopt the major planks of his programme, especially in economic policy. In the wake of a severe …
Read More »Would Labour really save families more than £6,700 a year? | Politics
Claim John McDonnell claims a Labour government would save families more than £6,700 a year. Background In a speech in Birmingham on Wednesday, the shadow chancellor will claim most households have been hit by the rising cost of living under the Tories. He will say households would save about £6,700 …
Read More »After years of excess in privatised utilities, of course Labour wants to renationalise | Business
We knew that Labour’s manifesto would be nationalisation-heavy but there were still late surprises. Openreach, BT’s broadband division, was added to the list in the final stages. And, more quietly, the big six household suppliers of gas and electricity were included within reforms for the energy sector; previously only the …
Read More »Posties vow to fight against Royal Mail’s ‘desperate and sinister move’ to block strike
POSTAL WORKERS have vowed to fight a “desperate and sinister move” by Royal Mail to invalidate a strike ballot overwhelmingly supported by postal workers. Royal Mail bosses are seeking an injunction to block the planned strike, which could disrupt Christmas post as well as postal voting in the run-up to the …
Read More »CBI boss on wrong track if she can’t say sorry about Labour’s rail plans | Business
There were two important statements from the CBI on Thursday. One, as you’d expect, was a view on the new UK-EU withdrawal agreement. In short, the employer’s body welcomes anything that lessens the chances of a damaging no-deal Brexit but it warned that “big questions remain about the feasibility of …
Read More »CBI calls on Labour to publish nationalisation plans | Business
The Confederation of British Industry has served Labour with a challenge to publish the full details of its nationalisation plans, in the latest twist of an increasingly bitter row. Britain’s leading business group hit back amid mounting pressure over its claim that Labour’s nationalisation plans would cost £196bn, releasing further …
Read More »CBI is wrong to see cost as big issue in Labour’s nationalisation plans | Nils Pratley | Business
The Confederation of British Industry is barking up the wrong tree when it howls about the “eye-watering” cost of Labour’s nationalisation plans, which it puts at almost £200bn. Of all the arguments against nationalisation – and there are many strong ones – the claimed upfront cost is the weakest. The …
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