The People Have Spoken!

 But What Did They Say?

By Les May

WE live in a liberal democracy with representative government. What that means in practice is that every five years we elect an MP we think will best represent our views in Parliament.  That’s the democracy bit.  The liberal bit is that when laws are to be enacted it isn’t just that of the majority which are taken into account, our laws take into account the views of minorities.  We do not insist that Sikhs wear crash helmets and we tolerate ritual slaughter of animals which many people, including me, find an abomination in a civilised society.

It is our acceptance of the idea of liberal democracy which distinguishes us from totalitarian states in which only one view is tolerated and other viewpoints are ignored or suppressed.

Liberal democracy in Britain is under threat and it is under threat from those who should uphold it most strongly, some of our MPs, not a majority of them, but a significant and noisy minority.  They claim legitimacy for ignoring the views of anyone but those who think like them, by telling us that they are seeking to enact ‘the will of the British people’ as expressed in the 2016 referendum.

A week ago ‘the British people’ had another opportunity to express their will. Only 35% of votes were cast for parties which insist that they can ignore the views of the 48% of people who voted not to leave the EU in 2016.  Hardly a ringing endorsement for abandoning the basic principle of liberal democracy.

If we are to continue to live in a liberal democracy then we need to face down those who insist that they, and they alone, have a right to determine how we leave the European Union.   Unless we do this we are allowing them to take the first tentative steps to totalitarianism.  As the saying goes ‘Give them an inch and they’ll take a mile.

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Unite, Len McCluskey & Labour's Squabble

YESTERDAY Len McCluskey accused Labour'a deputy leader, Tom Watson, of being a 'poor imitation of Machiavelli' as alleged rumours were rife of another challenge against Jeremy Corbyn's leadership following Labour's poor showing in the EU elections.

McCluskey's remarks matter because his union is a major paymaster for the Labour Party.  Judging by what he had to say he seemed to suggest that Sir Keir Starmer was likely to be a challenger for the leader's job.


The Unite union's policy agreed by the union’s 2016 policy conference made it clear that the union accepted the result of the 2016 referendum on membership of the European Union.  It also set out our union’s priorities for dealing with the process of Brexit, which included protecting jobs, defending employment rights, and opposing the racist backlash that the referendum campaign unleashed.

In June 2018, Unite even joined the National Shop Steward's Network (NSSN) which has long been dominated by the Socialist Party (formerly Militant).  The ideology of this group has been bitterly anti-EU and has been rooted in a belief in the old-fashion concept of the 'British Road to Socialism'.
The recent affiliation of McCluskey's Unite seems to have been encouraged by a decision by the NSSN in 2018 not to field candidates against the Labour Party in elections. 

By linking up with the hole-in-the-corner anti-EU Trotskyist NSSN must now suggest that Unite, which formerly backed Remain, is stuck in the BREXIT trough.

Sir Keir Starmer has now said a second referendum is the 'only way' to break the Brexit deadlock, after Labour suffered a mauling from voters in the European elections.

 Meanwhile,three former ministers are now daring Corbyn to sack them in solidarity with Alastair Campbell who was expelled yesterday for saying that he voted LibDem in the European elections.

Mr Corbyn's office has thus far refused to say if the trio would be expelled

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Politics of prediction: The EU & Brexit

 by Brian Bamford

TONY GREENSTEIN on his Blog last Saturday asked  'The Real Question is Why has Corbyn not Benefited from the Tory Crisis?  Commenting on the poll predictions for EU elections the writes:  

'The victors are, it is predicted the Brexit Party.  The second party is forecast to be the Liberal Democrats. Labour is forecast to be in third place. These are, of course predictions but if they are correct then a number of things need to be spelt out.'

He naturally issued his warning about these results being based on predictions, but now we know that the forcasts were largely spot on in terms of outcomes.  And as I write this, based on these outcomes people like both Nigel Farage and even Joanne Swinson of the Liberal Democrats, have made further predictions which are becoming more like what Karl Popper has called 'unconditional historical prophecies'.*

Tony Greenstein is clearly what is called a 'Remainer'  and on his Blogg he argues:
'Brexit, the desire to withdraw from Europe is not an anti-capitalist project.  People didn’t vote leave because they desired an independent socialist Britain. The primary force behind leave was the Right and far-Right. Euro scepticism of one variety or another is a Europe wide phenomenon.'

Mr. Greenstein warns that 'Corbyn has prevaricated and dodged for far too long' and he suggests on his Blogg is influenced by the old left-wing idea of the  'British Road to Socialism', or as he suggests is rooted in the concept that Tony Benn used to claim when he says Benn had said that 'the Common Market took away British sovereignty, as if workers and the poor had ever had control over their lives'.

I don't believe we can make unconditional historical prophecies about BREXIT or what will follow a 'No Deal Brexit'.  That kind of historism falls into the trap of vulgar Marxism.  Yet I believe we can make negative predictions like for example as when George Orwell suggested that the consequences of the 'Treaty of Versailles' would be bad but we couldn't predict that it would lead to the Third Reich and Adolf Hitler.  I would suggest that while I can't predict in detail what will happen with Brexit but I do believe that it will be bad for most of us.

* Conjectures and Refutations by Karl Popper (1963)

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Tameside Election 2014. More Labour married couples join the council!

Carl Simmons is one of two ‘independent’ candidates who are standing in the Tameside 2014 local elections.  He is a reforming candidate, who seems to think that local government is badly in need of a shake-up. He wants to see councillors standing for election at the same time and not the current system of a third standing annually.  He also wants to see one councillor per ward and not three as at present. More significantly, he wants to limit the term of office for councillors so there are no jobs for life and wants to stop family members, also being elected to the council.

Anyone, who is familiar with the Shenanigans within Tameside Labour Party, as Simmons undoubtedly is, will be aware of the nepotism and cronyism that is endemic within it. Labour politics, in this part of Greater Manchester, has become so incestuous, that it is now a family affair. There are so many spouse’s and partners and family members on Tameside Council, that its begun to resemble the game show Mr and Misses that was once hosted by that jovial northerner, Derek Batey.

Two of the three Tameside MPs, Jonathan Reynolds and Andrew Gwynne, have wives on the council. Then there are the ‘Chuckle Bothers’, Jim and Philip Fitzpatrick, whose father Joe, was once on the council. Jim’s partner, Jan Jackson, is also a councillor. The leader of the council Kieran Quinn is married to his fellow councillor, Susan Quinn. Barrie and Anne Holland, are also item, and are councillors for Droylsden. Dukinfield councillor, Jacqueline Lane, also sits on the council with her hubby, Dawson Lane. Councillor Denise Ward also sits on the council with her partner David McNally.

Although the Conservatives, who are standing 19 candidates in the elections, have been highly critical of the number of Labour couples on the council, they now seem to be trying to play catch-up with their Labour rivals. In Audenshaw, Colin White is standing for the Conservatives and his wife Carol, is also standing for the Conservatives in Denton North East. A former Labour councillor, Colin White was banned from standing in the local elections by his Labour colleagues following allegations of ‘unauthorised spending’ and poor performance as a councillor. He then defected to the Conservatives.

In Mossley, former Ashton Town Centre Manager, Frank Travis, is seeking election so he can join his wife Lynn on Tameside Council. And over in Dukinfield, Eleanor Ballagher, is seeking election as a Labour candidate. Both her father and mother were also Labour councillors.

Apart from the Labour and Conservatives, the Greens are standing 19 candidates. The BNP are standing 2 candidates. There is a candidate standing for ‘Trade Unionists and Socialists against the Cuts’ and a candidate standing as a ‘Patriotic Socialists’.

Although the majority of people will not be voting in either the local or European elections and would be unable to tell you the name of a candidate, UKIP seem to have caused some anxiety amongst the time-serving Labour elite who make up the one party state of Tameside. We understand from sources that postal votes that are already in, show an upsurge in votes for UKIP in Tameside, and that this is giving some people within the council the jitters. UKIP are standing 11 candidates in the local Tameside elections.