UNIONS urged Sir Keir Starmer not to deliver more austerity after he told TUC Congress to expect pay and public investment restraint.
National Education Union general secretary Daniel Kebede said the Prime Minister failed to announce a change of course after “decades of division, austerity and underinvestment in public services.
“Instead of setting out a positive vision to rebuild the economy and our society, he served up more of the same,” he added.
“The politics of austerity will only be ended in practice, not in fine words.”
Public and Commercial Services union general secretary Fran Heathcote added: “We’ve had enough of being told about ‘tough decisions.’
“You cannot solve the problems caused by austerity with more austerity.
“That’s why the TUC has voted overwhelmingly for a campaign of pay restoration across the public sector, which will boost living standards and strengthen the economy.”
Ellie Chowns, Green Party MP for North Herefordshire. CC image Wikipedia.
The Green Party has voted at its Manchester conference to recognise the Israeli government as an “apartheid” state, as defined by international treaties such as the International Convention on Apartheid (1973) and Rome Statute (1998).
The conference also voted to recognise Israeli military operations in Gaza as a “genocide” as defined under the UN Genocide Convention (1948).
Ellie Chowns, Green Party MP for North Herefordshire, said: “We don’t use terms like genocide or apartheid lightly, but they are a sad reflection of the atrocities being carried out by the Israeli State.
“This motion reflects International Humanitarian Law, including the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, and it is essential that British political parties unequivocally uphold these basic minimum standards of international law.”
The conference also reaffirmed support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.
Ellie Chowns said: “We will only see an end to the escalating violence in the Middle East when there are clear incentives for all involved in the war in Gaza to agree to a ceasefire, the release of all hostages and an end to the occupation.
“We will press the UK government to step up its actions, including suspending all arms export licenses to Israel, and full co-operation with the actions of the international courts.
“Without an agreement, the intolerable death toll in Gaza will continue to rise, the hostages will be at greater risk and there will be an increased chance of sleepwalking into a larger regional war.”
Josep Borrell speaks during a press conference at the end of an Informal Foreign Affairs Council (Development Ministers) in Brussels, on February 12, 2023. (Photo: Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP via Getty Images
“Against this backdrop, it is clear that the prospect of a two-state solution—which we have been ritually repeating—is receding ever further while the international community deplores, feels, and condemns, but finds it hard to act.”
European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell on Tuesday urged the international community to stop “radical members of the Israeli government” from thwarting Palestinian statehood and prevent Israel from turning the illegally occupied West Bank into “a new Gaza.”
Speaking to attendees of an Arab League conference in Cairo, Borrell lamented that a Gaza cease-fire agreement “has still not been signed and does not seem likely to be signed in the near future.”
“Why? Quite simply, because those who are waging the war have no interest in putting an end to it,” he continued. “So, they are just pretending… Because, as it turns out, their intransigence is accompanied by total impunity.”
“If acts have no consequences, if blatant violation of international law remains disregarded, if institutions such as the International Criminal Court are threatened, if the International Court of Justice rulings are totally ignored by those who promote a rules-based order, who can be trusted?” Borrell asked.
“Not only is there no pause in the war in Gaza,” he noted. “But what looms on the horizon is the extension of the conflict to the West Bank, where radical members of the Israeli government—Netanyahu’s government—try to make it impossible to create a future Palestinian state.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his far-right government have openly boasted about their efforts to derail the so-called “two-state solution,” and Israeli lawmakers voted overwhelmingly in July to oppose the creation of a Palestinian state.
Borrell asserted that “a new front is being opened with a clear objective: to turn the West Bank into a new Gaza—in rising violence, delegitimizing the Palestinian Authority, stimulating provocations to react forcefully, and not shying away from saying to the face of the world that the only way to reach a peaceful settlement is to annex the West Bank and Gaza.”
Since last October, Israeli soldiers and settler-colonists have killed more than 600 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, including more than 140 children. Settlers have carried out more than 1,000 attacks including multiple deadly pogroms, during which Israel Defense Forces soldiers stood by, protected, and even joined the attackers.
“Without action, the West Bank will become a new Gaza,” Borrell stressed. “And Gaza will become a new West Bank, as settlers’ movements are preparing new settlements.”
“Against this backdrop, it is clear that the prospect of a two-state solution—which we have been ritually repeating—is receding ever further while the international community deplores, feels, and condemns, but finds it hard to act,” Borrell added.
“What can we do?” he asked, continuing:
We need to raise our voice at the next [United Nations General Assembly] and prevent a sort of “Gaza fatigue,” which will embolden the extremists and postpone once again the idea of a political settlement. We have to launch a process where all parties who want to work on an agenda—a concrete and practical agenda to implement the two-state solution—can work together.
Second, we need to revitalize the Palestinian Authority to support their reform process, but also to support [them] financially.
Third, [we have] to facilitate all attempts at dialogue between Palestinians and Israelis.
Fourth, [we must] not give up on engaging with Israeli civil society, even in this context—and especially in this context. Everyone, not just the Europeans—Palestinians, and Arab civil society, must do it. I know how difficult it is to reconcile both narratives, but it is the only way to move forward…
Fifth, the Palestinians have to reach a common vision, to overcome their divisions, because the more these divisions exist, the more they undermine the legitimacy and representativeness of the Palestinians.
Sixth, the Europeans need to adopt a common approach. That is what I am working tirelessly on, even if the success is limited, because I have never seen such a dividing issue among the Europeans as the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Seventh, the Arab States need also to adopt a truly common approach [to] coordinating and showing solidarity.
“All in all, it means building a balance of power on realistic foundations for the two-state solution—before it becomes, definitely, too late,” Borrell concluded. “I know, it is extremely difficult. However, we must never give up.”
Last month, Borrell called for sanctioning Israeli leaders for hate speech and inciting war crimes in Gaza and the illegally occupied West Bank. He has also called for an arms embargo on Israel.
Israel is currently on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice. Meanwhile, International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan is seeking to arrest Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders—at least one of whom has been assassinated—for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Since October 7, when the Hamas-led attack on Israel left more than 1,100 people dead—some of them killed by so-called ” friendly fire“—and over 240 others kidnapped, Israeli forces have killed at least 40,988 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children. At least 94,825 other Palestinians have been wounded. Almost all of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been forcibly displaced, while Israel’s “complete siege” has starved and sickened people across the enclave, with dozens dying of malnutrition.
‘If we show that economic stability is the hallmark of Labour governments, there is no limit to what we can achieve,’ Reeves told Labour MPs. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian
Rachel Reeves tells Labour MPs that axing allowance for all but poorest pensioners will help plug £22bn hole in finances
The chancellor has faced down would-be rebels in a private meeting of Labour MPs ahead of the crunch vote on the government’s controversial plan to scrap the winter fuel allowance.
Rachel Reeves told a gathering of the parliamentary Labour party that the move was necessary, despite fears about the impact on millions of less-well-off pensioners, as it would help to plug a £22bn gap in the public finances.
She also warned that there would be more difficult decisions to make on the economy, despite dozens of Labour MPs considering abstaining in Tuesday’s vote to cut the £300-a-year payment for all but the poorest pensioners.
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Government insiders ruled out any prospect of the Treasury offering any concession on the policy, despite the depth of concern from figures across the party. Many MPs are worried that elderly constituents just above the threshold will suffer.
Keir Starmer, meanwhile, is set to stick to the same theme by doubling down on the government’s tough economic message in a major speech to the Trades Union Congress, where he will say that “hard graft” is necessary to turn around the public finances.
Analysis published by Labour in 2017 said plans to means test winter fuel payments would be the ‘single biggest attack on pensioners in a generation’
Thousands of pensioners could die if the government proceeds with its plan to cut winter fuel payments for those not on benefits, Labour’s own research suggested.
Analysis published in 2017, when Sir Keir Starmer was in the Shadow Cabinet, warned that Conservative plans to cut the fuel allowance for ten million pensioners would increase excess deaths by 3,850 that winter.
The proposal, put forward by Theresa May’s government, was dubbed the “single biggest attack on pensioners in a generation in our country”.
The report has resurfaced just weeks after Rachel Reeves announced that older people not in receipt of pension credits or other means-tested benefits will no longer receive winter fuel payments from this year onwards.
