Zack Polanski hijacks Labour Conference to win over left wingers
Morning Star Editorial: The Morning Star take on Labour conference 2025
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/morning-star-take-labour-conference-2025
Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers his keynote speech to the Labour Party Conference at the ACC Liverpool, September 30, 2025…
The flag-waving and standing ovations point to a rigged conference — with many delegates “deluded,” as one speaker from the floor at the Morning Star’s packed fringe meeting put it. Labour has become a hostile environment for the left — many socialist MPs stayed away, and the defeats inflicted on the government — such as over Palestine — were down to affiliated unions, not constituency party representatives.
Inside the hall many seemed to think compulsory digital ID cards were a brilliant policy, though it is almost impossible to find anyone who supports it in the real world. On the streets of Liverpool few had anything good to say about the party, and the mood of the protests at the conference gates — both the far right’s sizeable Sunday rally and the demonstrations for worthwhile causes such as opposing cuts to disability benefits — was grimmer and angrier than in previous years. There is real hatred for the government from the right, from the left, and among people who do not consider themselves political.
The disconnect is a product of Starmer’s most consistent political attribute — authoritarianism. Here is a leader who, unable to persuade Labour members to support his march to the right, used suspensions and expulsions to force it on the party, banning constituency parties even from debating contentious issues. Rule by fear has been extended to the country now he is in power — with mass arrests of peaceful demonstrators and a bid to decapitate the peace movement by charging its most prominent leaders. His withdrawal of the Labour whip from MPs who dare to stand up for their principles shows an unprecedented intolerance for dissent.
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Only a small part of the article is quoted https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/morning-star-take-labour-conference-2025
Trial date set for six people charged with alleged Palestine Action support
Timothy Crosland leaving the Old Bailey, central London, after his preliminary hearing, September 26 2025A TRIAL date has been set for six people charged with allegedly organising mass gatherings against the ban on the group Palestine Action.
The charges related to plans for meetings in London, Cardiff and Manchester which were allegedly organised over Zoom in July, August and this month.
Former government lawyer Timothy Crosland, 55, from Southwark, south London; gardener Dawn Manners, 61, from Hackney, east London; David Nixon, 39, from Barnsley, South Yorkshire; student Patrick Friend, 26, of Grange, Edinburgh; Gwen Harrison, 48, from Kendal, Cumbria; and Melanie Griffith, 62, from Southwark, are accused of breaches of the Terrorism Act.
They are accused of allegedly arranging, managing or addressing meetings, knowing that the purpose was to support a proscribed organisation.
Each defendant spoke to confirm their names in the dock during a preliminary hearing at the Old Bailey today.
Nixon remained standing in the dock throughout the hearing with his eyes closed and holding a white banner with the words “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.”
The defendants are alleged to be members of a group called Defend Our Juries, or to work closely with it, which opposes the ban on Palestine Action.
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Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/trial-date-set-six-people-charged-alleged-palestine-action-support
How do Britons see Labour, ahead of their 2025 party conference?
Public largely see Labour in negative terms, with even Labour voters tending to not trust them in key policy areas
Labour’s annual party conference is kicking off this weekend in Liverpool. There is likely to be a very different tone to last year’s gathering, which was held in the aftermath of their landslide victory at the 2024 general election.
Now, just one in seven Britons (14%) approve of the government’s record to date, while seven in ten (69%) disapprove of Labour’s performance in office. This gives a net approval rating of -55, near identical to the final -56 rating for the previous government last July, just before the Conservatives lost power.
Even among Labour voters, a majority (53%) disapprove of the government, with just 29% feeling positively about the record of the government they elected.
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Two thirds of Britons (66%) see Labour as out of touch, relative to just 14% seeing them as in touch, while the public believe it’s unclear what the party stands for by a similar ratio (65% vs 16%).
Furthermore, around six in ten Britons describe Labour as weak rather than strong (62% vs 9%), untrustworthy rather than trustworthy (61% vs 14%), and incompetent rather than competent (59% vs 17%). Labour are also twice as likely to be seen as serving their own interests (54%) than trying to do the right thing (25%), or caring about a select few (50%) instead of caring about ordinary people (23%).
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Original article at https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/53058-how-do-britons-see-labour-ahead-of-their-2025-party-conference
Full results: https://ygo-assets-websites-editorial-emea.yougov.net/documents/Internal_LabourTrust_250901.pdf
Keir Starmer told scrapping two-child cap on benefits should be ‘bare minimum’ in fight against poverty
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/keir-starmer-told-scrapping-two-35965638
[Daily Record] EXCLUSIVE: SNP MP Kirsty Blackman said getting rid of the hated Tory welfare policy should be the “bare minimum – not the height of ambitions”.
The UK Labour Government has been challenged to go “much further” than scrapping the two-child cap on benefits if it wants to reduce number of kids living in poverty.
SNP MP Kirsty Blackman has today written to Keir Starmer to insist getting rid of the hated Tory welfare policy should be the “bare minimum – not the height of ambitions”.
It comes amid rising speculation the Prime Minister may use next week’s UK Labour conference in Liverpool to confirm the two-child cap will finally be ended.
Anti-poverty campaigners and charities have long warned the policy punishes larger families and pushes more youngsters into a life of poverty as a result.
The SNP Government has already commited to mitigating the impact of the welfare cap in Scotland from next March.
In her letter, Blackman said: “Independent analysis shows that if the UK government matched SNP action across the UK, it could lift 2.3million families out of poverty overnight, including a further 96,000 in Scotland.
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Article continues at https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/keir-starmer-told-scrapping-two-35965638
