Dear Editor

THE Labour Party’s countrywide vote total in the General Election of 2024 was less than it received in 2019. Keir Starmer’s Manifesto had less popular support than the two Manifestos of the Labour Party while Jeremy Corbyn was Leader.

It was not so much a case of the Labour Party winning the election, as the Conservative Party losing it. If it had not been for Reform splitting the Conservative vote, then Chris Vince would not have been elected in Harlow, and the Labour Party would probably not have a majority in Parliament. It is like a team winning a cup final without scoring goals, on account of the own goals of the other side.

It is unprecedented for a party with such a low share of the vote to obtain a majority. The Labour Party has been gifted two thirds of the seats for a third of the votes by the peculiarities of the “First Past The Post” electoral system.

The policies of the Labour government under Starmer are a continuation of the policies of the Conservative Party in many respects. Public services will not be re-vitalised – on the contrary, they will be cut. “There is no money” is a right-wing dogma that is contrary to the best traditions of the Labour Party. If that line had been followed after the Second World War, then Western Europe, Japan, and North America would not have seen an unprecedented economic boom that lasted until the 1970s. The National Health Service, universal secondary education, social security, and a massive council house building programme would not have been established in this country.

Wes Streeting, who has received large donations from private healthcare companies, wants to increase private involvement in the National Health Service. Alan Milburn, who was responsible both for the Private Finance Initiatives that 20-plus years later still hobble the NHS, and for outsourcing NHS services to private contractors, has been brought in to help Streeting with this task, after enriching himself in a private healthcare company. The NHS desperately needs a substantial increase in funding, and the funding promised in the Labour Manifesto is nowhere near enough. The introduction of more private provision in the NHS will convert more of that funding into fat returns for shareholders, rather than treatment for patients.

The leadership of a political party may be judged on its attitude to the poorest people in our society. The Starmer leadership has not made any commitments to reverse the cuts in social security provision introduced by the Conservative Party and its Liberal Democrat coalition partner. The benefits cap, the decrease in the Local Housing Allowance, the “bedroom tax”, the cuts in Council Tax relief for the jobless, and other punitive measures will remain in place. Liz Kendall, the new Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, criticised the Conservative government for not being tough enough on “welfare”.

A party that refuses to remove the two-child limit on tax credits at the same time that it refuses to reintroduce the cap on bankers’ bonuses is actually waging class war on the side of the bourgeois class against the working class, in the best traditions of Thatcherite Conservatism.

I was disgusted by the racist dog whistling by Starmer and Ashworth, when they enthusiastically talked of deporting people who came to this country from Bangladesh. The deep unhappiness with these statements amongst people of South Asian heritage may have contributed to Keir Starmer’s vote halving in Holborn and St Pancras, and Jonathan Ashworth losing his seat in Leicester South.

It was common ground in politics, from Thatcherite Conservatives to anarchist communists, that the Geneva Conventions should be upheld. However, after the outbreak of the current Gaza Strip War we had the grotesque spectacle of a Labour Leader justifying the cutting off of electricity and water to the people of the Gaza Strip, and banning discussion of this issue in Constituency Labour Parties. After the International Court of Justice produced an interim ruling under the Genocide Convention, members of the Labour Party were prohibited from discussing Motions calling for the implementation of this ruling.

Clause IV Part 3 of Chapter 1 of the Labour Party Rule Book states that Labour is committed to co-operating in the United Nations and other international bodies to secure peace.
“Labour is committed to the defence and security of the British people and to co-operating in European institutions, the United Nations, the Commonwealth and other international bodies to secure peace, freedom, democracy, economic security and environmental protection for all.”

Keir Starmer’s actions with respect the Gaza Strip War ran contrary to the letter and spirit of the Labour Party rule book. In not condemning violations of international humanitarian law and not calling for an immediate permanent ceasefire he brought the Labour Party into disrepute, and this was the primary reason that four independents defeated Labour candidates, and a number of other opponents of the slaughter in the Gaza Strip came close to defeating other Labour candidates. Wes Streeting clung on by 500 votes and Jess Phillips came within 700 votes of defeat. (The fifth independent to defeat a Labour candidate was Jeremy Corbyn, but his victory was not solely due to his position on Palestine).

I cannot congratulate Chris Vince or Keir Starmer or the Labour Party for their victories in the General Election of 2024, because, although I am pleased that the Conservative Party is no longer in office, I cannot be happy about the continuation of neo-liberal policies, and I do not think it an accomplishment to obtain office with fewer votes than were received last time, because the vote of the other side was split.

I cannot be happy to see the success of a Leader of the Labour Party who has unfairly excluded good candidates, restricted democracy, disallowed free speech, and unjustly expelled members.

I resigned from Harlow Constituency Labour Party on 1st May. I voted for the Green Party in the General Election, because I agree with its policies of introducing a wealth tax, abolishing the two-child limit on tax credits, re-establishing state ownership of water supplies, and upholding international humanitarian law, amongst others.

However, it seems to me that the Green Party is an unstable alliance of liberals and socialists/social democrats.

I hope that by the time of the next General Election a viable left-wing alterative to this right-wing Labour government will be able to take office.

Yours sincerely

John Wake
Ex-Member, Harlow Constituency Labour Party