Campaign news

LRC Hampshire launches with unity call

12th November 2010

A packed rally in Winchester on Thursday (11 Nov) responded enthusiastically to John McDonnell’s call for action to unite the labour movement around a massive anti-cuts campaign.

He made the call during a meeting to announce the formation of the Hampshire Labour Representation Committee on Thursday night.

Mr McDonnell tore the Con-Dem government of millionaires to shreds and said it was using the deficit as an excuse for its “ideologically driven and economically illiterate attack on the welfare state and public services.”

His sentiments were echoed by LRC joint secretary Andrew Fisher, who mentioned the positive alternatives that could boost the economy, based on public investment, fair taxation and the harnessing of the banking system for the good of the economy rather than the greed of the few.

In a withering attack on the government, Usdaw union convener at the Twinings tea factory Pete Millward urged public and private-sector workers to fight together, saying that every public-sector job destroyed by cuts would take a private-sector job with it.

Mr Millward condemned Associated British Foods subsidiary Twinings’ plan to ditch most of its UK workforce for cheap labour in Poland and China with the aid of a £10 million EU grant, despite already making huge profits.

“Today more than ever we need to make sure that the Labour Party represents working people in the momentous battle to come,” said rally organiser and chairwoman Sarah Evans, Labour’s candidate in north-west Hampshire in May’s general election.

*The above is a report from the Morning Star

You can download a copy of Pete Millward’s speech here.