India’s parliamentary election ends Modi invincibility myth

10/07/2024
Prime_Minister_of_India_Narendra_Modi Photo: Russian-press-secretary-CC

Youvraj, New Socialist Alternative (CWI India)

The results of one of the most important parliamentary elections in the history of India showed a resounding setback for the ruling BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) regime. The NDA (National Democratic Alliance) coalition, led by prime minister Narendra Modi, was always likely to form the new government, but that does not diminish the message of the mandate.

In the run-up to the elections it was publicised that BJP would win more than 400 out of 544 seats. Exit polls too predicted a big win. Notwithstanding such hype, the BJP lost 63 seats, winning only 240 seats, 32 short of a majority. The NDA coalition, led by the BJP, still secured a majority but fell short of 300 seats. For the opposition coalition, India (The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance), the gains were significant. Far surpassing expectations, it won 233 seats. The myth of the invincibility of Modi is broken.

For the past ten years, Modi has run an authoritarian regime with complete centralisation of power. Investigative agencies like the ED (Enforcement Directorate) and CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) have been weaponised to serve the political interests of the ruling party.

Even the highest statutory bodies like the Election Commission and Reserve Bank of India are subjugated to align with the political agenda of the BJP. Armed with the complete subjugation of the state apparatus, the BJP ventured on a reckless campaign of annihilation of any opposition to its rule – be it opposition parties or any mass protests.

In India, elections take place in a mammoth country, if not a subcontinent, with its deep social divisions. Apart from acute class contradictions, various enigmas ranging from regional disparities to those of national questions still haunt India. These contradictions keep on asserting themselves more often than not, and the last ten years were no exception. Notwithstanding such upheavals, the BJP government continued to tighten its grip over power. The disjunct between politics and underlying conditions appeared too glaring.
BJP chauvinism

In its previous tenure, the BJP constantly whipped up nationalist and religious chauvinism. Various fictitious narratives ranging from Islamophobia to the myth of India becoming a superpower were peddled relentlessly, evoking anything from acute hatred to jingoism.

Barring few exceptions, major media houses would viciously propagate such narratives to be picked up by followers of Modi’s personality cult that was so assiduously created. The propaganda machinery of the BJP, churning out narratives laced with an acute sense of indignation, ran deep into society; often leading to heated, polarised discussions among not just groups of friends but also within families.

Of course, the chauvinism wasn’t an inconsequential feature but was cunningly harnessed to quell any social expressions of underlying issues. Those who pointed to the very flawed premise of ‘demonetisation’ would have to face a tirade of attacks by Modi supporters accusing them of being supporters of ‘black money’. Upholding the idea of religious harmony could earn one of the titles of ‘sickular’ (mocking the word secular) and so on. The farmers that staged the historic agitation against the government in 2020 were referred to as Khalistani (Sikh-Punjabi sepratist). With an army of online trollers, as well as mobs that could unleash violence on the streets, the regime could extremely polarise any public discourse.

The success of the regime lies in the fact that it had stitched together a band of the most vulgar, reckless elements. The Modi regime is very much the rule of the capitalist class but the form of this rule is not the general form of a capitalist regime. In fact, the Congress Party has been the classical party of capitalism in India.
Effects of capitalist crisis

The global meltdown of capitalism in 2008 and the subsequent crisis of Indian capitalism formed the basis of the capitalist class switching over to the BJP to represent its interests. Those who would term it as ‘crony capitalism’ ignore that this has been the feature of Indian capitalism (and, for that matter, of those other countries that entered late into the capitalist arena) from the beginning.

Under the Modi regime, it was a specific feature aligned with changes in capitalist structure. The aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union saw the global onslaught of neoliberal capitalism, seemingly defying national, regional or sectoral boundaries to penetrate deep and wide into each and every sector of the economy.

It appeared the iron grip of the Modi regime could crush or defuse any underlying contradictions and crisis ailing Indian society. This unfettered and incremental control over not just the state apparatus but also over social forces is something that led many left-progressive forces characterising it as a fascist regime. For many, including those on the left, such characterisation was premised on a liberal outlook of capitalist democracy.
Authoritarian regime

While acknowledging the authoritarian character of the regime, we argued against such abstract generalisations. We pointed out how the rise of BJP over the last three decades was a result of a long historical process and that the Modi regime was the product of an onslaught of neoliberal capitalism and class struggles following global meltdown. More importantly, we pointed out that this regime, though vicious towards many, is not the master of the situation.

The structural crisis of capitalism meant that Modi could conjure up the (so-called) boom in Gujarat state when he was chief minister in the 2000s, but he would not be able to go anywhere similar in the period of global downturn after 2014. Sooner rather than later, such contradictions would assert themselves causing political upheavals.

While the Indian economy was slipping into recession even before Covid, things worsened significantly after it. Not just the working class but even well-to-do layers of the middle classes found their fortunes tumbling. Unemployment reached its peak. The share of unemployed youth was as high as 82.9% in some estimates. The share of educated youths among all unemployed people also increased to 66% in 2022, up from 54% in 2000. Inflation had soared too, eroding whatever meagre income the working masses could generate.

The ethnic conflict in Manipur, fuelled by the BJP government in the state, leading to large scale violence, rioting and rapes, which went unabated for months, thoroughly shocked the nation. Modi, with his adamant and smug attitude, refused to make even a single visit to the state.

When coming to power in 2014, one of the planks that attracted many was Modi’s promise of a ‘New India’ free from corruption, dynastism and the associated evils of India’s political system. Youths and a section of the working class believed in it, only to be betrayed later. Some left dismayed stayed away from elections and voter turnout dwindled. Some others, infuriated by the betrayals of Modi, rallied behind opposition forces.

The opposition alliance, led by Congress, started late and did not appear well prepared initially to catch up in the recent election. The manifesto of Congress was based on the theme of social justice and could strike a chord with at least a section of the working masses.

Of course, this regime is not yet defeated and the BJP is coming to power again, albeit with a reduced majority. The challenges for left forces and the working class are acute and need to be addressed.
What opposition?

The opposition alliance, though not as brutal as the ruling clique, is nonetheless another wing of the capitalist class. Capitalist development in India is characterised by a complex mesh of capitalist interests. The historic peasants’ struggle represented the struggle of rich capitalist peasants against the onslaught of corporate capital in agriculture. Many regional parties, like the NCP (Nationalist Congress Party) in Maharashtra, which played a key role in halting a BJP rally in the state, is a party of a section of regional capitalists.

The opposition to the BJP and for the expansion of ‘democratic space’, while important, in itself is not the solution. So, even if in the next elections the opposition parties come to power, that would not free millions from capitalist and caste exploitation.

The underlying class disparities and divisions are too acute to be overcome by any reformist measures. The CPI and CPM – the communist parties of India – have utterly failed to wage any revolutionary struggle against capitalism, confining themselves to parliamentary politics. Yet again in these elections they tailed behind the Congress Party to “stop the march of fascist forces”, as they have been claiming for past few decades. The right-wing forces, an inevitable part of capitalism, can only be overthrown by the revolutionary struggle of the working class.
Mass workers’ alternative

The New Socialist Alternative (CWI in India) organized a ‘Youth for an Alternative’ campaign, which highlighted the need for building a mass working-class alternative. While arguing to vote against the Modi regime and its anti-working-class policies, Youth for an Alternative exposed the bogus claims of the opposition.

The communist parties and many others who wanted to oppose the Modi regime took the wrong position of collaborating with the main capitalist opposition party, the Congress Party.

Instead of choosing ‘lesser evils’ the struggles of farmers, workers, and all oppressed sections should be brought together to fight back against all capitalist policies. Such a united position can also aid the process of building a real political alternative to the capitalist parties.This is an edited version on a longer article published online at socialistworld.net

 

Consultation launched for proposed nine turbine wind farm in north Wales

10 Jul 2024 

RWE site at Mynydd Y Gwair. Picture by Richard Williams

Wales’ largest renewable energy generator has begun an eight week formal consultation on plans to develop a wind farm capable of generating power equivalent to the needs of up to 48,000 homes.

RWE’s proposed Gaerwen Wind Farm on a site straddling Denbighshire and Gwynedd has a planned capacity of up to 59 MW.

If approved this will include nine turbines, two with a tip height of up to 200m and seven of up to 180m, battery storage potential is also being explored.

The site is located south-west of Corwen and north-east of Bala.

Consultation

The formal consultation follows an informal consultation held in 2022, after which the project design has been refined with the benefit of extensive survey data covering ecology, ornithology, hydrology, noise and visual impacts, as well as wind measurements.

The project team alongside representatives from Community Energy Wales will be in-person at events in Cynwyd, Llandderfel and Llandrillo, to answer questions in detail on different aspects of the proposals, with an online exhibition also available.

Arfon Edwards, RWE’s Project Manager leading on the development, said: “Having spent a number of years gathering survey and other information, and refining many different aspects of the scheme, we are now ready to share our proposals with the public in order to hear their views and suggestions.

“After our previous consultation period we made a number of changes which have enabled us to maximise the renewable energy generation from this site as well as avoiding important deep peat areas.

“In our draft Environmental Statement we have set out actions to mitigate any effect on protected species including ground nesting birds, such as curlew, lapwing and other breeding wader species.”

Milestone

This consultation is the latest milestone in the project which began in 2020. If approved, the Gaerwen Wind Farm and its associated community package that is currently being informed by community and local feedback, will directly benefit the community support local businesses and supply chains.

In addition the renewable project would support Wales as it strives for the target of meeting 100 per cent of electricity consumption with renewables by 2035.

The planning application will be considered by Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW), with a final decision by the Welsh Ministers anticipated in 2025.

Common land

As the proposed site is partly on registered common land within the Mynydd Mynyllod commons, RWE will require separate consent from the Welsh Ministers to develop on common land.

RWE is the largest power producer in Wales, and the country’s number one renewable energy generator. They are currently involved in over 3 GW of energy in Wales across 12 sites, of which around 1 GW is renewable.

Their existing renewable energy portfolio already generates one third of Wales’ renewable energy production, which they say is ‘enough to power 550,000 homes’.

Gaerwen Wind Farm is one of a pipeline of new renewable energy projects in development across Wales in offshore, onshore, battery storage, solar and hydrogen areas.

For further information, visit www.rwe.com/Gaerwen.

 

Farage and Reform UK face sustained protests from anti-racism activists

Minority ethnic residents in Reform UK constituencies are on high alert since the election, Stand Up to Racism told i

Nigel Farage’s first Reform UK press conference since he was elected as an MP was disrupted by anti-racism activists (Photo: Guy Smallman/Getty Images)

By Alannah Francis

Reporter

iNEWS

July 10, 2024

Anti-racism activists who disrupted Nigel Farage’s first Reform UK press conference since becoming an MP have said they plan to oppose the party at every opportunity.

Stand Up to Racism (SUTR), which claimed responsibility for the protest shortly after it took place, told i minority ethnic residents in Reform UK constituencies, particularly Muslim women and black people, were on high alert since the election.

During the election campaign, Reform UK suspended three candidates over racist, offensive and homophobic comments.

Mr Farage described some of the comments as “reprehensible” and said they “bear no relation to my own views, those of the vast majority of our supporters or Reform UK policy”.

The former Ukip leader was elected in Clacton, overturning a Conservative majority of more than 25,000 to become an MP on his eighth attempt at joining the Commons.

Four other Reform UK MPs were elected to Parliament on 4 July, with the party gaining a 14.3 per cent share of the vote – it’s biggest success to date.

Reform UK chairman Richard Tice won in Boston and Skegness, Rupert Lowe was elected in Great Yarmouth and Lee Anderson – who defected to Reform from the Conservative Party in March – retained his Ashfield seat. After a recount and a majority of just 98 votes, James McMurdock became the Reform MP for Basildon South and East Thurrock.

Weyman Bennett, joint national secretary for Stand Up to Racism, claimed people in Clacton had reported increased racism during the general election campaign.

He said he would receive around one or two calls a month from supporters who had been racially abused while campaigning but that figure had spiked to around 20.

Mr Bennett said: “I’ve spoken to people in Clapton during the campaign, black people and ethnic minorities, who said that the level of racism has gone up.

“Everywhere Reform are growing, you’re getting hardened racist people who feel that their racism is being endorsed by significant people.”

Mr Bennett also claimed that SUTR activists running stalls had been subjected to racist abuse by Reform UK supporters, and the organisation was encouraging individuals impacted to report these incidents to the police.

“When we’ve had our stalls up, the people on there that are black and Asian have been racially abused,” he said.

Activists from Stand Up To Racism campaign in Clacton Town Centre on 29 June 2024 (Photo: Guy Smallman/Getty)

Mr Farage was heckled at his victory press conference on 5 July, before seven people were escorted out of the central London venue where it was being held.

The Reform leader told the conference he plans to “professionalise” the party and rid it of “bad apples”.

It came after former Reform UK candidate for West Ham and Beckton, Georgie David, who left the party to support the Conservatives, said the vast majority of those standing for Reform in the general election were “racist, misogynistic and bigoted”.

Reform UK said it “strongly disagrees” with Ms David’s claims.

Her comments and departure from the party followed Liam Booth-Isherwood, who withdrew from representing Reform UK in Erewash, citing a “significant moral issue” within its ranks.

The defections came after three Reform candidates were suspended by the party after being accused of making offensive remarks during the election campaign.

Edward Oakenfull, who was standing for the party in Derbyshire Dales, posted derogatory comments about the IQ of sub-Saharan Africans on social media last year. He told the BBC the remarks had been taken out of context.

Robert Lomas, a former candidate in Barnsley North, said asylum seekers had it “in their DNA to lie” and that the “black people of Britain” should “get up off your lazy arses” and stop acting “like savages”, The Times reported. He has not commented on the claims.

Leslie Lilley, who had been standing for Reform UK in Southend East and Rochford, reportedly referred to people arriving on small boats as “scum” in a social media post, adding: “I hope your family get robbed, beaten or attacked.” He has not commented on the claims.

Asked about the comments during an appearance on BBC Question Time, Mr Farage said he wanted “nothing to do with them”.

Footage filmed by an undercover reporter for Channel 4 News showed a Reform UK canvasser, Andrew Parker, making racist, homophobic and Islamophobic comments.

In response, Reform said any individuals identified as “making unacceptable comments and holding those views are not welcome in our campaign”. Mr Parker told the programme “neither Nigel Farage personally or the Reform Party are aware of my personal views on immigration”.

Mr Farage described the comments as a “tirade of invective abuse” but said the canvasser filmed by Channel 4 News may have been a paid actor. Channel 4 disputes the claim and says the canvasser was not previously known.

Mr Bennett, who is “sickened” by the strides Reform UK made at the general election, said he believes “the whole barrel is rotten”.

Meanwhile, Mr Farage said his party’s membership now stands at 65,000. The figure is an increase of 25,000 since 8 June.

Asked if SUTR planned more protest action akin to the disruption at the 5 July press conference, Mr Bennett said: “Not only are we going to have similar action, wherever Reform meet publicly, we’re going to oppose them.

“At the moment, we still live under a democracy. So we’re going to speak up.”

He added that there were not enough voices in the media holding Reform UK accountable for what he called the “disgusting” behaviour of its candidates and members.

“We’re trying to say that you should make sure that racism is not made respectful, because I think it’s damaging to people’s lives,” Mr Bennett said.

“We didn’t have a group in Clacton until this happened,” he said. “I do think it’s a tragedy that we have to do this just for people to feel safe.”

UK

‘Insufficient evidence’ for manslaughter prosecution after explosion deaths

Three men and a teenage boy died in the incident in Avonmouth in December 2020.


THE INCIDENT HAPPENED IN DECEMBER 2020 (BEN BIRCHALL/PA)
PA ARCHIVE

CLAIRE HAYHURST

There is insufficient evidence for a manslaughter prosecution relating to the deaths of three men and a teenage boy who were killed in an explosion at a water recycling centre, police have said.

Luke Wheaton, 16, from Bradley Stoke, Ray White, 57, from Portishead, Brian Vickery, 63, from Clevedon, and Mike James, 64, from Bath, died in the incident at the Wessex Water site on December 3 2020.

It is understood that Mr James was a contractor working at the site, while Mr Vickery and Mr White were employees of Wessex Water and Luke was an apprentice at the firm.

In this case, the evidence we’ve gathered doesn’t reach the extremely high threshold to prosecute any criminal offence of manslaughter

AVON AND SOMERSET POLICE

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Avon and Somerset Police said its major crime investigation team had been leading the inquiry into the cause of the explosion, assisted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

A force spokesman said the investigation had focused on whether any individuals were responsible for the explosions, as well as whether any health and safety offences had been committed.

Detectives, along with HSE investigators, recently met with the Crown Prosecution Service to review the case and it was decided there was “insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of a criminal conviction for manslaughter”.

The HSE will now work to establish whether criminal offences may have been committed under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, the spokesman added.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Almond, of Avon and Somerset Police, said: “Throughout our inquiry the families of Luke, Ray, Brian and Mike have been firmly in our thoughts.

“The families have demonstrated great dignity and patience while we carried out our inquiries and I’d like to publicly thank them for their support and understanding over the past three and a half years.

“Inquiries of this kind are extremely complex and require the support of other agencies to gather evidence and then a variety of experts to help us interpret what that evidence tells us.

“In this case, the evidence we’ve gathered doesn’t reach the extremely high threshold to prosecute any criminal offence of manslaughter.

The four colleagues will always be in the thoughts of everyone connected to Wessex Water

WESSEX WATER

“We have met all the families to explain this development and to inform them of what will happen next, with HSE taking ownership of the investigation.”

Emergency services were called to reports of a large explosion involving one of the chemical tanks at the site at around 11.20am on December 3, 2020.

The blast happened in a silo that held treated biosolids.

In tributes released through police following the tragedy, Luke was described as “the most gorgeous, loving, happy, talented, perfect son”.

Mr White’s family said he was “a wonderful son, brother and father to his two sons”, while Mr Vickery’s family paid tribute to his “cheeky and wicked sense of humour”.

Mr James’s family described him as a “brother, husband, father and Grampy”, adding that he would be missed.

Simon Chilcott, principal inspector at HSE, confirmed that investigators were in regular contact with the families of those who died.

He said: “We have been a part of this complex inquiry from the outset. Now as the lead agency, we will continue to carry out a robust criminal investigation to establish if there have been any breaches of health and safety law.”

A Wessex Water spokesperson said: “We’re continuing to work with the Health and Safety Executive as they carry out their investigations and are committed to understanding why the incident happened.

“The four colleagues will always be in the thoughts of everyone connected to Wessex Water.”

Ancient wild goat added to rare breeds watchlist to support conservation

The Cheviot goat, whose population centres around a herd living wild in Northumberland, is a link to UK’s original domesticated goats, experts say.


CHEVIOT GOATS HAVE BEEN ADDED TO A RARE BREEDS WATCHLIST (DAVE HUNT/PA)

EMILY BEAMENT

12 HOURS AGO

Goats which live in a wild herd in Northumberland and are a crucial link to ancient domesticated goats have been added to a watch list of rare breeds.


The Cheviot goat, whose population centres on a wild herd in the Cheviot Hills and is considered an “authentic remnant” of Britain’s original primitive goats, has been added to the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST) watchlist.

The watchlist is the RBST’s annual report on the conservation status of the UK’s native livestock and equine breeds, highlighting which are the most endangered.

A CHEVIOT GOAT KID. THE RBST SAYS THERE ONLY AN ESTIMATED 450 OF THE BREED REMAINING

The trust said that there were only an estimated 450 Cheviot goats – including the wild herd and animals held by private breeders and for conservation grazing schemes – and only 86 females producing offspring in 2023.

So it is adding the goat to the watchlist’s “feral population” category, recognising the breed as a rare native feral population to support its conservation.

Primitive goats have existed in Britain for thousands of years, from those kept by subsistence farmers in the Bronze and Iron Ages through to herds on medieval manors, prized for their milk, meat, skin, hair and tallow.

These original primitive goats had died out as domesticated animals by the mid-1900s as breeds were mixed to increase dairy production, but the bloodlines survived in some long-standing, isolated feral herds which had become established due to the animals’ tendency to escape, the RBST said.

According to legend, the goats of the Cheviot Hills originated when the monks of Lindisfarne abandoned the monastery in 875AD, and as they herded their livestock along the way, the goats were too feisty to control, escaped and were left to roam in the area, the charity said.

Cheviot goats are extremely important both culturally and genetically, and they are also excellent for conservation grazing

CHRISTOPHER PRICE, RBST

Labour’s Scottish gains are fragile

10 July, 2024 -
Author: Ann Field
WORKERS LIBERTY, UK



Scotland was the only part of Britain where Labour’s share of votes on 4 July was up in 2023 compared to 2019. In England, Labour won seats because of Tory voters staying home or switching to Reform, but had no overall rise in vote-share.

In Scotland, Labour won 37 seats (up from one in 2019), the SNP won nine seats (down from 48), the Lib-Dems won six seats (up from four), and the Tories won five seats (down from six).

The Greens (until recently allied with the SNP in government) contested most Scottish seats, generally winning between one and two thousand votes. In some Glasgow and Edinburgh constituencies, they polled between 4,000 and 5,000 votes. Reform UK contested all Scottish constituencies and usually won 3,000 plus votes.

The Trade Union and Socialist Coalition (led by the Socialist Party) stood in four seats, winning just over 1,500 votes in total. The Scottish Socialist Party (led by Richie Venton) stood two candidates, picking up a thousand votes in total.

Labour won 36% of the popular vote (up from 19% in 2019), the SNP won 30% (down from 45%), the Tories won 13% (down from 25%), and the Lib-Dem popular vote remained virtually unchanged. Turnout was 8.5% lower than in 2019.

The headline figures correspond to canvassers’ experiences on the doorstep.

Previous SNP voters are demoralised. The “true believers” see the SNP as having gone soft on independence. Pragmatic SNP voters are disillusioned with the SNP’s record in power in Holyrood. Many SNP voters simply stayed at home.

Some of the growth in the Green vote is probably accounted for by switching by one-time SNP voters.

A substantial number of one-time SNP voters switched to Labour. Tactical voting by Tory voters in some constituencies added to the Labour vote. The first-past-the-post system translated that in to an election landslide for Labour.

Inevitably Scottish Labour is focussing on its tally of 37 MPs. But the headline figure conceals a variety of problems.

Scottish Labour is not, and was not even in the Corbyn years, a mass-membership party with a large activist base. Its membership is probably well under 20,000, about a quarter that of the SNP. Its election campaign relied on a lot of effort by few activists.

Its newly elected MPs include those responsible for the debacle of Better Together in 2014 (when Labour allied with the Tories in that year’s independence referendum) and the electoral disaster of 2015 (when Labour lost 40 of its 41 Scottish MPs). These people have learnt nothing in the meantime.

Added to them are a new generation of thought-through right-wing ideologues — and a further layer of MPs who just faithfully repeat the party line.

If Starmer faces backbench rebellions at Westminster, they will certainly not be spearheaded by Scottish Labour MPs.

Scottish Labour portrays its gains last week as the basis for further gains in the next Holyrood election. Although there is some substance to that belief, it also contains an element of wishful thinking.

Holyrood elections are based on proportional representation, not first-past-the-post. And the next election will take place during the mid-term of the Westminster Labour government, when governments tend to be at their least popular.

The election result in Scotland should give the left — inside and outside of the Labour Party — cause to reflect on what strategy it should now pursue.

The Labour left in Scotland has long been much weaker than in England. Unlike in England and Wales, there was only a minimal influx of new members under Corbyn (and by now those have now virtually all left anyway). The Scottish Labour left’s politics are largely those of the Communist Party’s Morning Star newspaper.

Labour left activists will have to challenge the “common sense” view of last week’s election: that Labour loses elections when it moves to the left, but wins elections when it moves to the right.

We will probably also face further isolation as — in the best traditions of Scottish Labour — the family, friends and employees of newly elected MPs join the Labour Party and provide the right-wing parliamentarians with a social base within the party itself.

If the “tough decisions” promised by Starmer trigger opposition from the trade unions, the Labour left will need to prioritise supporting that opposition and attempting to take it into the party itself.

For the left outside the Labour Party, the time to take stock is also well overdue.

In 2014 virtually the entire left backed a Yes vote in the independence referendum. In 2016 it largely supported Brexit (even though Scotland overall went 62-38 Remain). Now it has adopted Gaza as its cause célèbre — and, in practice, that has meant concessions to various forms of antisemitism.

Scottish independence, Brexit, and Israel-annihilationism have all been expressions of a fantasy anti-imperialism. Wrong in principle, it has also been an abject failure in practice. In electoral terms it has yielded just 2,500 votes and half a dozen lost deposits.

 

LABOUR HUB EDITORS

Britain’s landlords’ paradise must be dismantled

Mike Phipps reviews Against Landlords: How to Solve the Housing Crisis, by Nick Bano, published by Verso.

JULY 10, 2024

In the ten years from 2010 to 2020, the total value of Britain’s housing stock rose by £750 million per day – excellent new for those who invest in it, but otherwise making it impossible for an increasing number to access the housing they need.

This increase has less to do with innate housing shortages and more to do with the fact that Britain has an economic and regulatory framework which is unusually good at allowing rents to rise, which in turn drives up house prices. In 2021 about 70% of housing in England and Wales was underoccupied, whereas less than 5% was overcrowded.

“Anyone who thinks that massively boosting new supply is the solution to a crisis of housing costs would do well to take a walk through central Manchester,” suggests Bano. As previously noted on Labour Hub, the city’s rents are increasing at an annual rate of 20%; in fact, the rent burden is so high that it outstrips London for unaffordability, due to the city’s lower wages.

Erven in Cornwall, it would be hard to insist that the crisis is driven by a lack of supply. A 2021 report found that there were just 52 houses available to rent in Cornwall listed on the Rightmove website, whereas Airbnb boasted over 10,000 active listings in the county.

Britain’s housing crisis has many aspects: the highest proportion of homeless households in the OECD; 100,000 children growing up in temporary accommodation; rough sleeping increasing by a third every year; and the poorest 20% of private renters surrendering more than half of their income to their landlords.

Government policy favours landlords in extraordinary ways. An increase in the housing element of universal credit, ostensibly intended to help tenants, is invariably seized on by landlords as a pretext to increase rent by a similar amount. It effectively becomes a landlord subsidy.

It was not always like this. Building restrictions, rent controls and other mechanisms led to the near death of private landlordism in the mid-20th century. In 1973 and 1974, Camden Council alone municipalised more than 4,000 privately rented homes. By 1973, privately let homes had fallen to 13% of dwellings, having stood at 61% at the end of the Second World War.

Thatcherism changed that. The selling off of 2 million council homes turned these units into highly profitable commodities at the same time as forcing more people into the increasingly lucrative private rented sector. As Bano observes, “The private rented sector is not a market in which competition tends to bring down price… Instead, the absolute necessity of housing to meet basic human needs, and the fact that many people need to live near their places of work, means that urban rents tend towards the maximum level that tenants are able to pay.”

New Labour in office did nothing to halt this trend. Instead, “council housing was prised from the inefficient hands of local government, rather than expanded, as the social sector became dominated by housing associations and ‘arm’s-length management organisations’.”  The pro-tenant attitudes that had kept land speculation in check, even if Labour were in Opposition, were no longer being articulated by the Party’s frontbenchers.

The result is an almost lawless landlords’ paradise. “It is emblematic of neoliberalism,” suggests the author, “that no one is ‘in charge’ of standards in the private rented sector. After years of de-funding, local authorities are unlikely to use their inspection and enforcement powers because they no longer have the resources.”

The fact that Britain has become a landlord’s paradise means that even the worthiest ones can act with unimpeded cruelty. One of Bano’s clients – he is a housing lawyer – was faced with eviction from her studio flat, which had been without any form of heating for two years and in which she was not allowed to have her children stay overnight, by the homelessness charity St Mungo’s. The case underlines how socially acceptable profiteering landlordism has become.

If the balance of forces is tilted against renters, it is even worse for migrants seeking to rent. Theresa May’s ‘hostile environment’ policy required landlords to carry out immigration checks under threat of criminal penalties. But people of colour face other obstacles, besides widespread landlord racism. In 2022 Shelter and the i newspaper carried out research into the private rented sector, and found that racial inequality is “hardwired” into the housing system. Rents are more expensive, as a proportion of income, for ethnic minority tenants, who are significantly more likely to have been subject to a rent increase of more than £100 per month. “Black and brown people transfer proportionally more of their wealth to asset-owning landlords than white people do, while also facing greater insecurity and worse conditions,” concludes Bano.

Bano takes us through the history of resistance to these iniquities – rent strikes, squatting, today’s renters’ unions. Nor is this issue confined to London and other major metropolitan centres: the 2021 census showed that housing affordability had worsened in over 90% of local authority areas in England and Wales.

But renting in London, where tenants are now being charged non-refundable deposits merely to view rooms they have only a small chance of securing, remains arguably the most exploitative. And as prices rise, conditions deteriorate: the author cites an inner London example of twenty beds in a three-bedroom flat.

How long can this last? The problem is that the boom for landlords has significantly distorted the UK economy – more than half of the country’s net worth is now made up of land values. Any cooling of the overheated housing market could produce a much more general recession. If we ever get a government committed to genuinely helping renters, it is likely to use this concern as an alibi for proceeding cautiously.

But just as the sell-off of council housing under Thatcher drove up housing costs, so a plan for mass council housing would significantly interfere in the private renting market. Rent controls and a hefty increase in capital gains tax would also have an impact. Most urgent is the abolition of section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions, a vital step which the last  government predictably retreated from.

All these reforms are feasible. Many of them have operated in Britain in the past and elsewhere internationally. If the political will is lacking – even with a change of government – the pressure must be intensified.

Mike Phipps’ book Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow: The Labour Party after Jeremy Corbyn (OR Books, 2022) can be ordered here.

Dad of plane crash victim condemns Boeing plea deal

By Yunus Mulla, BBC News

Family photograph
Humanitarian worker Sam Pegram died aboard a Boeing 737 Max airliner in Ethiopia in 2019

The father of an aid worker who died in a plane crash said a deal in the US courts, which means manufacturer Boeing will avoid being prosecuted, was "devastating" for bereaved families.

Sam Pegram, from Penwortham, in Lancashire, was one of 346 people killed in two crashes involving Boeing aircraft in 2018 and 19.

His family wanted the company to face a criminal trial but now the plane-maker has agreed a deal with the courts to plead guilty to criminal fraud conspiracy and pay a criminal fine of $243.6m (£190m).

Sam's father, Mark Pegram, said there was "zero accountability" for the lives lost in the "sweetheart deal".


Mark Pegram says there is "no accountability for the 346 lives lost" in the plea deal


By pleading guilty, Boeing will avoid a criminal trial, if the settlement is agreed by a US judge.

A Boeing 737 Max plane operated by Indonesia's Lion Air crashed in October 2018 shortly after take-off, killing all 189 people on board.

Just months later, an Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed, killing all 157 passengers and crew, of which Sam was one.

In 2021, prosecutors charged Boeing with one count of conspiracy to defraud regulators, alleging it had deceived the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) about its MCAS flight control system, which was implicated in both crashes.

It agreed not to prosecute Boeing if the company paid a penalty and successfully completed a three-year period of increased monitoring and reporting.

But in January, shortly before that period was due to end, a door panel in a Boeing plane operated by Alaska Airlines blew out soon after take-off and forced the jet to land.

‘Boeing played Russian roulette with people’s lives’

No-one was injured during the incident but it intensified scrutiny over how much progress Boeing had made on improving its safety and quality record.

As part of the new deal, Boeing must also invest $455m (£355m) in "compliance and safety programs" and be monitored for three years.

Mr Pegram, who now lives in York, said: "It’s not enough.

"There's no accountability for the 346 lives lost. The deaths aren't even mentioned."

He said bereaved families want Boeing "to be held to account for what they have done and also act as a deterrent for others".

He said: "Unfortunately, it is a take it or leave it; the judge hasn't got the flexibility to amend elements of the plea deal so we will be arguing that he should throw that plea deal out."


'Make a difference'


Last year West Sussex coroner Penelope Schofield ruled the three British people who died in the 2019 crash - Sam Pegram, Oliver Vick and Joanna Toole - were unlawfully killed.

Mr Pegram described his 25-year-old son at the inquest as a kind, compassionate man with an infectious sense of humour.

"He had a passion for human rights, but also had the drive and inner strength to make a difference," Mr Pegram said.

The family has set up the Sam Pegram Humanitarian Foundation to provide support services for refugees and early career humanitarians both in the UK and in Jordan where the aid worker spent two years of his life.

The foundation has launched the Sam Pegram Scholarship in his memory at the University of York where he graduated. It provides funding for an international student to study for an LLM in International Human Rights Law and Practice.

The charity has also organised fundraisers for Sir Tom Finney Soccer Centre to help refugees and asylum seekers access football in Preston.

Bust furlough firm that listed Sunak’s wife among its directors linked to Reform UK

Digme Fitness went bust after taking £630,000 in furlough cash, owning creditors £6.1m in what is understood to be unpaid VAT and PAYE.

 by Jack Peat
2024-07-
in Politics




A firm that received hundreds of thousands of pounds in furlough money before going bust had both Rishi Sunak’s wife and a newly-elected Reform UK MP among its directors.

Digme Fitness, which went bust in 2022, listed both Akshata Murthy and Rupert Lowe as officers, with the ex-PM’s spouse using an address which is now connected with the Reform UK party.

Lowe was one of five Reform UK MPs to be elected in the general election, taking 35.3 per cent of the vote in Great Yarmouth.

He is the former chairman of Sunak’s beloved Southampton Football Club and played a prominent role in the Vote Leave campaign during the Brexit referendum before being elected for the Brexit Party in the West Midlands constituency in the 2019 European Parliament elections.

Alongside Murthy, he was listed as an officer in Digme Fitness, which took up to £630,00 in furlough cash before going bust, owing creditors around £6.1 million in what is understood to be unpaid VAT and PAYE.

Digme offered cycle, hit and yoga classes at its London venues and at home programmes for its customers to follow. Subscription packages varied from £8 per month, up to £25 per month for in-studio exercise.

The firm’s website states it helps customers “set your sights high, achieve more than you ever expected, leave feeling exhilarated and be in the best shape of your life – digging deep for real gains.”

Europe’s drinking water contaminated by ‘forever chemical’: NGOs

By

 AFP   JULY 10,2024

A large sample of European drinking water has detected a substance linked to “forever chemicals” used in pesticides and refrigeration, a coalition of non-governmental organisations said Wednesday.

It follows an earlier study in May, also by the European Pesticide Action Network (PAN Europe) and its members, that found “alarming” levels of PFAS chemicals in Europe’s rivers, lakes and groundwater.

Widely used in everyday items like cosmetics, non-stick pans and fire extinguishers, PFAS long-life substances are highly durable products that can take centuries to break down.

Samples for this latest study, taken from bottled and tap water in 11 EU countries, detected the presence of TFA (trifluoroacetic acid).

A major source of TFA is degrading PFAS used in certain synthetic pesticides and cooling gases in refrigeration and air conditioning, among other applications.

The possible impact on human health of PFAS, and of TFA in particular, has been growing, but “surprisingly few toxicological studies are available”, PAN Europe said.

The samples tested by the Water Technology Centre in Karlsruhe, Germany, found TFA in 34 of 36 tap water samples and in 12 of the 19 bottled mineral and spring waters.

TFA values in tap water ranged from “undetectable” to 4,100 nanograms/litre, with an average of 740 ng/L.

In mineral and spring waters, TFA values ranged from “undetectable” to 3,200 ng/L, with an average of 278 ng/L.

PAN Europe backed the proposal made by the Dutch National Institute of Public Health and the Environment to set a standard at 2,200 ng/L.

This “was set in such a way that the consumption of drinking water only fulfils 20 percent of the tolerable daily intake,” PAN Europe said.

This threshold was exceeded in mineral water analysed in drinking water from Austria (4,100 ng/L), while in Paris, the tap water analysed contained 2,100 ng/L. 

Under European Union rules, from 2026 all drinking water must not exceed 500 ng/L for all PFAS, and NGOs are demanding that TFA be added to the list. 

An earlier decision to class TFA as “non-relevant” under EU pesticide regulations was “regrettable” considering its “toxicological profile still leaves many questions unanswered”, the report in May said.

A recent study on rabbits and TFA exposure found birth defects in offspring, raising serious concerns about this chemical.

PAN Europe has called for urgent interventions to address this “political failure”, starting with a “rapid ban” on PFAS pesticides and a rethink on the threat posed by individual chemicals like TFA.

Dirty Water A Killer In The Pacific

Thursday, 11 July 2024, 

Press Release: ChildFund

"It is unacceptable in 2024 that 1 in 10 deaths for children under 5 years in parts of the Pacific is linked to diarrhoea, vomiting and dirty water. This is a problem that is fixable. So, let’s fix it," says CEO of ChildFund Josie Pagani.

The Pacific has some of the highest rates of preventable deaths for children in the world, due largely to dirty water.

Child Fund has launched a campaign to bring clean water to children in Kiribati and Solomon Islands, and will expand its programmes across the region over the next year.

"The Pacific is our home and for many New Zealanders, these children are our extended family. We can’t fix all the problems in the world, but we can make a difference in the place we call home too."

Dirty water is linked to diarrhoea and vomiting, and causes some of the highest numbers of preventable child deaths in the Pacific:1 in 10 deaths for children under 5 years in Kiribati
1 in 14 deaths for children under 5 years in Solomon Islands
Only 16% of school children In Solomon Islands, have clean, safe water
Only 27% of households in Kiribati have access to clean, safe water

Giving children better access to clean water not only prevents illness and worst-case scenario, death. It also removes one of the biggest barriers to getting an education. Children often miss school because they need to walk hours to collect clean water, or driftwood for fires to boil dirty water.

"We can do something about these statistics. The solutions are often simple. Communities know what they need; fixed pipes, water tanks, simple ways to make the water safe to drink. All we need to do is listen and get the right support to fix the problem," says Josie Pagani

In Napir Village in Temotu Province in the far east of the Solomon Islands, children walk for almost two hours a day to find clean, safe drinking water, which means they are missing out on an education and a chance to play and learn and be a child.

There is no shortage of water from natural springs on the island. ChildFund is raising funds to:Rebuild a water pipe and pump system that will provide water to 3,000 people in 18 communities as well as the local school.
Complete the build of a toilet block at the local school in Napir Village to improve sanitation.

Kiribati, with its 33 islands and atolls, scattered over a vast ocean area in the heart of the Pacific has the highest child mortality rate in the Pacific. ChildFund is raising funds to:Provide families with 10 litre Solvatten units that use solar energy to purify water in just a few hours. Each unit can provide 6,000 litres of safe drinking water every year.
Install 75 litre solar powered distillation tanks at pre-schools, schools and community centres - giving children access to clean safe drinking water every day.
Build rainwater harvesting infrastructure (roofs and gutters) to capture precious, albeit infrequent rain.

"We hope to expand these initiatives across more countries in the Pacific. This is our shared home. We cannot stand by and let these children suffer from a problem that is often simple and cheap to fix."

Donate here: https://childfund.org.nz/water-for-the-pacific/

For every dollar donated, the New Zealand government provides an additional $4.