Riding two horses

Editorial 333

The political world has shifted on its axis. Pax Americana is over. Donald Trump has made it very clear that Europe has to defend itself, to stand alone economically and militarily. With high tariffs imposed on steel and more to come plus demands for Europe to enormously up defence spending it is clear the US is going down the road of bully-boy protectionist economic nationalism. Worse, on the Ukraine war Trump is now sitting down with the arch aggressor Putin and branding Zelensky the dictator and the cause of the 2022 war. This is appeasement that puts Chamberlain’s 1938 Munich betrayal in the shadows.

Alongside this Trump has brought a clutch of ultra-rightists into his inner circle, not least the richest man in the world, Elon Musk who has shredded the US Aid department, backed the neo-Nazi AfD in Germany while at the same time denouncing Keir Starmer.

If this isn’t enough for Starmer to realise he cannot ride two horses at once, then he is heading for a big fall.

Grace Blakeley examines the political-economic repercussions of big tech oligarchs teaming up with Trump while Caitlin Barr looks more closely at what this means for the world of social media platforms with unchecked misinformation and hate speech.

Starmer has to make some difficult decisions. Is he with progressive, social democratic, pluralist politics under full scale attack from Trump and the rising European far right or will he seek to appease Trump and end up being a lap dog for the US. The UK’s future must be for closer cooperation in trade and security with European allies. Europe is the UK’s biggest trading partner. It’s time to rebuild links and revisit the customs union. Alliances are the only safe haven in trade wars.

Starmer has contradicted Trump on Ukraine, he must do the same on Gaza and Palestinian rights though Andy Gregg is not optimistic with foreign secretary David Lammy equivocating on Trump’s outlandish and illegal proposals to remove Palestinians from Gaza, take US ownership and turn the land into a golf riviera.

The message from the first months of Trump in the White House, though the writing was on the wall before, is that the UK can forget the special relationship.

This underlines the importance of rebuilding Labour’s political base at home as well. However, Mark Seddon doesn’t see Labour on the road to recovery. Sinking in the opinion polls and likely to lose seats in the Welsh and local elections, he argues Britain needs a new popular front embracing the trade unions, Greens and environmental groups and a host of other progressive forces. Broken promises on protection of Port Talbot steel works and on poverty reduction do not auger well.

Clive Lewis highlights the dire condition of the water industry with private owners putting profits and bonuses above pollution prevention. His bill proposes public democratic control and ownership of the industry to make water safe and affordable. Paul Salveson likewise argues that rail nationalisation as partially envisaged by Great British Rail should be locally controlled and follow models begun by Labour mayors in Manchester and Liverpool. The voice of local people is critical in shaping effective transport systems.

Duncan Bowie analyses the viability of Labour’s plan to build 1.5 million new homes in this parliament. He is sceptical that unless local authorities are given more resources to invest and without the scrapping of right to buy the end goal will be a mirage.

With the economy flatlining and new economic shocks beckoning Dave Levy looks at Labour industrial strategy finding it lacking in vision. State support, funding through wealth taxes and borrowing is crucial to re-booting economic development. Lack of intervention over the steel works doesn’t suggest the government has a real grip.

Gerry Hassan examines Labour’s fortunes in Scotland where the general election saw Labour take the vast majority of seats. However, he fears lessons from nearly 20 years of SNP rule have not been learned. With a super majority built on a low turnout and wafer-thin majorities for many MPs Glyn Ford looks at the IPPR’s democracy report on boosting voter turnout. With no mention of PR or House of Lords reform he finds flaws in the proposals to make voting easier. Reducing the voting age to 16 or more advertising won’t boost turnout. Karen Constantine is similarly unimpressed with government proposals for local government devolution fearing the motive is cost-cutting rather than more effective planning and delivery.

On the plus side Maria Exall reminds us that the flagship Employment Protection Bill, based on the joint trade union/Labour plan for a new deal for workers, contains much that will enhance rights at work, boost pay and conditions and enable trade unions to develop. However, resistance to big business efforts to dilute the plan is essential.

While Gaza and Ukraine dominate the international headlines Patrick Costello examines the new leadership in Syria concluding cautious overtures should be made. Andrea Pisauro re-examines Italian fascism under Mussolini to draw some lessons for today. Mary Southcott finds grounds for optimism in new talks for a settlement on divided Cyprus. On Ukraine Oksana Dutchak reports on the situation of carers, predominantly women, who have taken the brunt of war-time support. Chris Ford rebuts the dangerous appeasement from the US on the Ukraine war.

Brian O’Leary examines a flawed analysis of the death of Soviet style socialism reminding us there is an alternative.

As one of the few social democratic governments in Europe it is incumbent on Labour to rediscover its democratic socialist roots. The stakes are enormously high with the threat of far-right parties being boosted by the advent of Trump 2 in Washington. Starmer’s Labour have a huge responsibility to both move onto the path of wealth redistribution, social justice and democracy while reaching out to all progressive forces in the UK, Europe and beyond. The world is at a major tipping point for humanity.