the RESPECT party

The ConDem government has released a report on the housing shortage in the UK today. The Montague report advocates the relaxing of planning restrictions and permission, allowing private investors to build on public land, the relaxation of affordable housing criteria and a voluntary code for what constitutes a reasonably constructed home. It represents a sick joke to the 2 million families that cannot find permanent accommodation in the UK at present.

There is a major housing crisis developing in Britain that is not being addressed by the ConDem government or the Labour Party in opposition. The end of the property boom and cheap mortgages has left the vast majority of people unable to afford to buy. Deposits alone are likely to cost £50,000 in most parts of the country. Private rents are soaring as a result with the average now being £722 per month, far too high for most families to even consider saving towards a deposit. The myth of the aspirant working class that can benefit from a ‘property owning democracy’ has been evicted.

The energy giant SSE has started another round of fuel prices rises in the UK. It claims that it cannot 'absorb' costs any more so must increase gas and electricity prices by 9% from 15 October. This is despite the wholesale price of gas and electricity power falling in the first half of 2012. In the US, the fall has been between 38-45% while it has been up to 13% in Europe.

Further, these rises are not the first that have come in well above the inflation rate. Gas prices were increased by SSE by 9.4% in December 2010; in September 2011, it increased electricity prices by 11% and gas by 18%. After being forced to cap its prices because of the public outcry, it has now returned to its profiteering pattern. 

Bradford West MP George Galloway commented on the Policy Exchange report: 'What do you expect from a right-wing Tory think-tank but more policies to punish the poor because they are poor? It's not just undesirable, it's unworkable and it's tantamount to social engineering. And we don't need to go too far back in history to see where that leads. The strength of our communities lies in their diversities.

This country is divided enough between rich and poor and the last thing we need is gated ghettoes for the rich and plasterboard estates on brownfield sites ringing our cities. Of course we need to build more affordable homes but this coalition government is cutting budgets everywhere and we haven't felt the real effects of this yet.

The Left Futures website this weekend published an article by Respect candidate Kate Hudson, which it subsequently removed. Here, Jon Lansman, its editor, explains why and apologises. Kate accepts his apology and looks forward to further discussion on the left about the issues she raises in the article, in particular the political representation of the working class. Respect has decided to publish the article and the apology in the interests of furthering a debate that is essential for the future of progressive politics.

Left Futures and the Manchester Central by-election: an apology 

Earlier today we published an article by Kate Hudson, Respect candidate in the Manchester Central by-election, entitled The unrepresented working class: a space Respect can fill. Whilst Left Futures firmly believes that “the Left’s future remains inextricably linked with that of the Labour Party” (as set out in our mission statement), this has given rise to the mistaken impression that Left Futures supports a candidate standing against Labour in a by-election. That is emphatically not the case. In order to clarify the position, I have decided as editor to withdraw the article from publication.

By Kate Hudson

Why have I decided to stand as Respect candidate in Manchester Central? There is no doubt that the Labour Party has a fine past track record in the service of ordinary people, liberating millions – through the foundation of the welfare state – from poverty and from the denial of basic rights and opportunities. But sadly, the emphasis here is on ‘past’ record.

Labour has ceased to advance, or even adequately defend, the great achievements it made for working people. For decades now it has bought into the pro-market, neo-liberal framework which has thrown Britainand much of the rest of the world into an economic crisis of mammoth proportions. The fundamental problem with neo-liberal economics is that it is all about rebalancing the economy, away from the modest redistribution of the Keynesian welfare state and back into the hands of the wealthy. That is not an appropriate economic approach for a social democratic party, especially one founded by the trade union movement – the organised working class. This turn away from defending and advancing the interests of the working class is a source of great sadness and frustration for many on the left and within the Labour Party itself.

Kate Hudson, Respect candidate for Manchester Central, joined with family members of those killed in police custody, to attend a screening of the award-winning film 'Injustice' on Friday August 10th at the Phil Martin Centre in Moss Side.

The screening took place on the anniversary of the riots triggered by the shooting by police of Mark Duggan, and was hosted by BARAC (Black Activists Rising Against the Cuts). The film charts the struggles for justice of the families of people who have died in police custody.

Kate Hudson said: ‘Over 1,000 people died in policy custody in England between 1969 and 1999. But no police officer has ever been convicted of any of the deaths. This remarkable film exposes the reality of this deeply shocking figure and calls us to action for justice. Time does not erase the crimes.’

Kate and the Respect campaign team will be taking their message to Manchester Central again on Saturday, meeting at 11.30 at the party rooms at Hilton House, Hilton Street , Manchester M1 1EL .

Bradford West remains Britain's epicentre of unemployment. Once again the constituency has shown the highest year-on-year increase of all Britain's 650 constituencies. MP George Galloway described is as 'a national disgrace'.

In July Bradford West recorded a 25% increase in joblessness over the same month in 2011. Overall the unemployment rate in the constituency was 13.7%. Galloway said: 'Another month and another depressing and shameful Number 1 for Bradford West. For the third consecutive month at least, my constituency recorded the highest increase of any of the 650 constituencies in the country - a 25% year-on-year increase. Youth unemployment has also soared by 22%.

Bradford West MP George Galloway has written to Foreign Secretary William Hague, alerting him to the plight of the ancient Rohingya people of Burma –the subject of a vicious pogrom – and asking him to do what he can to come to their aid.

Galloway said, ‘I appreciate that Britain has little pressure to be bring to bear to influence the Burmese government. But a clear statement of condemnation of the atrocities which have taken place would send a message ringing round the world. Bangladesh, which has taken in around 200,000 refugees, is now turning them back by the boatload, must also be informed that it has a duty to help those fleeing persecution. The United Nations needs to discuss this urgently and take action. We cannot stand by.’

Following confirmation from Westfield boss Steven Lowy that the company may sell the controversial hole in the centre of Bradford, Respect leaders are demanding an urgent inquiry into the long-running debacle.

'Westfield recently announced a further £3 billion investment in Britain. None of it in Bradford,' said Respect's council leader Alyas Karmani. 'And now the man at the top says that they may sell the site. It couldn't be much clearer could it, that despite the relentless PR hype Westfield is not going to develop the hole and is trying desperately to sell up and get out. I'll be demanding answers from council leader Dave Green, from Westfield and an inquiry into why and how this scandal was allowed to play out for so long.'

Lowy, visiting London for the Olympics and staying in the family's 74-metre yacht in London, was asked in a newspaper interview to confirm he was not selling the site. 'I didn't say that,' Lowy said. 'We may sell it, but it will play out in a way that pleases the people of Bradford.'

By George Galloway, Respect MP for Bradford West

Headlines this week referring to the possible full-scale nationalisation of RBS bank sent my mind back to an exchange in the House of Commons a few years ago, not long after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Then Chancellor Alistair Darling made a dramatic statement to the house. For the sake of brevity and readability let me summarise.

The government was taking emergency bold measures to in effect nationalise the mountain of bank debt while leaving the banks in the same private hands that had been revealed, even then, to have spectacularly plunged us into the mess in the first place. I asked the Chancellor if it might not be a good idea, having stumped up so much public largesse, for the public to have a controlling stake on the board of the banks we'd just bailed out.

Politely, it must be said, he refused the invitation as assorted Blairite creeps echoed one another's synthetic mirth. And now we are four years down the line. The promises, hopes and clutching of straws of the last government and its even worse successor that the likes of Bob Diamond would turn their attention to bolstering the economy, lending to households and businesses if only we stuffed their mouths with silver have turned to ashes.

Stroll through Manchester city centre and you feel you are in a prosperous thriving city. Your eyes take you upward towards Beetham Tower, the 'glass blade' with its Hilton Hotel and penthouses. The imposing architecture of the surrounding streets, built on Victorian industrial prosperity, and the lively cultural and social life of the regenerated post-industrial city centre speak to the casual observer of stability and new prosperity.

But a look beyond that surface gloss shows a different reality – just a stone's throw away from the bright lights of the city centre - not boom, but almost bust. A second city, of deprivation, child poverty and unemployment. Manchester is ranked fourth most deprived local authority in England, second most deprived in terms of income and third in terms of employment. Bradford ward and Miles Platting and Newton Heath ward – both in Manchester Central constituency - rank as first and second most deprived wards in Manchester.