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Come to the Left Platform!

5th February 2015

Left Platform

The conference will take place on Saturday February 7th 2015 from 11am to 4pm
at the University of London Union,  Malet Street, London WC1E 7H

Discussion Schedule
11am – 11.15am Introduction from John McDonnell MP

The recession has created a sense of insecurity and lack of hope in the future but increasingly people are beginning to challenge the old orthodoxies and question the old order. Now is the time to demonstrate practically what a Labour government could do in office. What is needed is to consolidate a common Left policy platform that can give people hope.

11.15am – 12.30pm First Session: Alternative to Austerity

There is no shortage of resources in our country to provide an alternative to austerity. The problem is that they are held in the hands of the few and are simply swelling assets of the wealthy than being used productively. Labour could free up these resources by taking control of finance and introducing a wealth tax on the richest 10%, a land value tax, and a restored system of progressive income tax, whilst clamping down hard on the tax evasion and avoidance that is costing us £119 billion a year.

Labour could put these resources to work to tackle the issues our people prioritise and stimulate economic growth by investing in public services, ending and reversing privatisation, large scale building of council houses, a £10 an hour Living Wage, restoration of trade union rights, ending the attack on welfare benefits and re-establishing the right to free education.

12:30pm- 1pm Lunch

1pm – 2.15pm Second Session: Public Ownership not Private Profit

Privatisation of our natural resources and our public services has allowed big corporations to rip us all off with cuts in wages, working conditions and pensions for the workers and high prices for the consumers. Labour could end all privatisation, especially in the NHS, and start the process of bringing our public services back into public ownership by re-nationalising our railways, with immediate price controls over energy prices and rail and bus fares, whilst blocking TTIP that threatens the ability of a Labour Government to promote public ownership.

2.15pm – 3.30pm Third Session: Ending Poverty Pay and Benefits, Restoring Trade Union Rights

Too many of our people live in or on the margins of poverty. Labour could introduce a living wage and living welfare benefits, ending the attack on people with disabilities by scrapping the ATOS tests and workfare, and bring in a cap on high wages of no more than 20 times the lowest paid in any company, with legislation to tackle the gender gap and restore trade union rights and health and safety regulations to protect people at work.

3.30pm – 4pm Next Steps

You can register to attend the meeting on the Left Platform website www.leftplatform.com or by emailing leftplatform@hotmail.com.