Diane Abbott

Cuts to welfare and aid go hand-in-hand with the war drive

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/cuts-welfare-and-aid-go-hand-hand-war-drive

DIANE ABBOTT MP points out the false premises used by Rachel Reeves in the Spring Statement

THERE is a liberal cliche that the first casualty of war is the truth. In reality it is usually the working class, the poor, disabled people and ethnic minorities.

Typically, they face more pressure and exploitation, longer hours, higher prices or charges, they get less state support and face greater discrimination all as part of the war effort. Or, more accurately, the war effort is used as the excuse to implement long-desired changes which increase exploitation and discrimination of all kinds.

That is what it is happening now.

To give just one example, both the Chancellor and the Secretary for Work and Pensions separately have said many years ago that we should be tougher on welfare than the Tories.

But it is only now, against the backdrop of the Ukraine war and the rhetoric of rearmament that that they are finally able to realise their ambitions.

Tory commentators are amazed and admiring about the depth of the cuts to welfare. One called Rachel Reeves the new George Osborne

This is true across the board. So it seems strange that many on the left are currently unwilling to link the war drive with the attacks on welfare and the cuts to international aid.

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Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/cuts-welfare-and-aid-go-hand-hand-war-drive

Continue ReadingCuts to welfare and aid go hand-in-hand with the war drive

Justice Secretary slammed for interfering in judicial independence

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/mahmood-interference-slammed-abbott

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood during the official opening of HMP Millsike – the new Category C jail in Yorkshire which will deliver 1,500 prison places, March 27, 2025

JUSTICE Secretary Shabana Mahmood was slammed for interfering in judicial independence today after she blocked new sentencing guidelines designed to reduce racial disparities.

Rebuking the minister, left MP Diane Abbott said there have been multiple reports highlighitng how black and ethnic minority people are treated unfairly by the justice system.

She said: “There is a reason why the Sentencing Council is independent. It was made a statutory independent body to avoid even the appearance of ministerial interference.

“This is not the United States. Our political system, our judicial system, are entirely separate.”

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Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/mahmood-interference-slammed-abbott

Continue ReadingJustice Secretary slammed for interfering in judicial independence

‘There is nothing moral about cutting benefits’

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Keir Starmer explainst the moral case for cutting disability benefits. He says work will set you free.
Keir Starmer explains the moral case for cutting disability benefits. He says work will set you free.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/there-is-nothing-moral-about-cutting-benefits

Starmer under pressure over cruel plan to slash welfare budget

… KEIR STARMER came under pressure from MPs across the Commons over his cruel plan to cut benefits today.

Labour announced on Tuesday that it will slash £5 billion from the welfare budget by the end of the decade.

In the Commons, Labour’s Diane Abbott told Sir Keir to stop pretending his cuts were moral.

“There is nothing moral about cutting benefits for what may be up to a million people,” she said.

“This is not about morality, this is about the Treasury’s wish to balance the country’s books on the back of the most vulnerable and poor people in this society.”

Colum Eastwood from the SDLP told the prime minister of a constituent “who needed help, she had a disability. It meant that her children have to cut up her food, they have to help her wash between the waist, they have to supervise her when she goes to the toilet.

“Under the Tory welfare system we were able to get that lady on PIP. Under the Prime Minister’s new proposed system she will get zero, nothing.

“And after 14 years of the Tory government — and many of us wanted to see the back of them — can the Prime Minister answer one question – what was the point if Labour are going to do this?”

Green co-leader Carla Denyer urged a wealth tax instead of cuts, a policy quietly supported by many Labour MPs.

“We have a deeply unfair, unequal economic system where vast numbers of people are struggling yet billionaires are getting richer and richer,” she told Sir Keir.

“Does the Prime Minister really think that the way to tackle this is to put the onus onto older people, children and now sick and disabled people rather than on the shoulders of the super-rich with a wealth tax, those people who could most easily afford to pay?”

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Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/there-is-nothing-moral-about-cutting-benefits

Keir Starmer confirms that he's proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
Keir Starmer confirms that he’s proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.
Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.
Continue Reading‘There is nothing moral about cutting benefits’

We need a public inquiry on Britain’s role in war on Gaza

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Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/13/we-need-a-public-inquiry-on-britains-role-in-war-on-gaza

In the aftermath of the Iraq war, several attempts were made to establish an inquiry surrounding the conduct of British military operations. Published in 2016, the Chilcot inquiry found serious failings in the British government, which ignored the warnings of millions of ordinary people over its disastrous decision to go to war.

History is repeating itself. Today, the death toll in Gaza has reportedly exceeded 61,000. Two Israeli officials are wanted by the international criminal court for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Britain has played a highly influential role in Israel’s military operations, including the sale of weapons, the supply of intelligence and the use of Royal Air Force bases in Cyprus.

Transparency and accountability are cornerstones of democracy. Therefore we are demanding an independent, public inquiry into the UK’s involvement in Israel’s military assault in Gaza. This inquiry should establish exactly what decisions have been taken, how they have been made and what consequences they have had. Any meaningful inquiry would require the full cooperation of ministers involved in decision-making processes since October 2023.

Many people believe that the government has taken decisions that have implicated officials in the gravest breaches of international law. These charges will not go away until there is an inquiry with the legal power to establish the truth.

Jeremy Corbyn Independent Alliance, Brendan O’Hara Middle East spokesperson, Scottish National party, Carla Denyer Co-leader, Green party, Brian Leishman Scottish Labour, Diane Abbott Labour, Zarah Sultana Independent, Richard Burgon Labour

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/13/we-need-a-public-inquiry-on-britains-role-in-war-on-gaza

UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWRE
UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWRE
Continue ReadingWe need a public inquiry on Britain’s role in war on Gaza

Following Reform UK’s politics can only lead Labour to disaster

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/following-reform-uks-politics-can-only-lead-labour-disaster

MILLSTONE: Parts of the Labour Party see Nigel Farage’s Reform as worthy of emulation

You only have to look at the dire polling of Labour’s sister parties in Europe to see that aping the hard right on migration leads to spectacularly bad results, argues DIANE ABBOTT MP

LABOUR is facing calls, both internally and from its enemies, that it should become even more anti-migrant in its policies and rhetoric in order to stave off the growing threat of Reform UK. This is a morally and politically bankrupt approach that will lead Labour to disaster.

If anyone doubts that, just take a look at some of the traditional left parties in Europe who have trodden that path, they have largely been reduced to a rabble.

The BBC reports that a group of “around 40 MPs” calling themselves the Red Wall group are calling in the government for a stronger message on immigration to stave off the electoral threat posed by Reform UK.

At the same time, there has been the proposed revival of the odious Blue Labour group with effectively the same aim. It has received a shot in the arm with the invitation of its ideological leader Maurice Glasman to Donald Trump’s inauguration. This is a direct foreign intervention in British politics and specifically into Labour politics as the Maga reactionaries try to reshape Western politics in their own image.

Labour has also decided to boost Reform UK’s advertising, by issuing ads which mimic their content and style on deportations.

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Continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/following-reform-uks-politics-can-only-lead-labour-disaster

Continue ReadingFollowing Reform UK’s politics can only lead Labour to disaster