Jeevun Sandher
Jeevun Sandher is the MP for Loughborough and served as an economist researching inequality and poverty at King’s College London and as a UCU trade union rep.@jeevunsandher
View all articles by Jeevun SandherIt’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
A group of Labour MPs has written to Chancellor Rachel Reeves urging her to spend billions on improving public services, The Observer has reported.
The Labour Growth Group, which features Labour MPs including Josh Simons and Torsten Bell, wants Reeves to back a rewriting of fiscal rules that would allow for billions more to be poured into services including education, health and transport.
The letter, seen by The Observer, reportedly reads: “We give voice to the silent majority who benefit from economic reforms, infrastructure projects and growth, no matter how well organised the vocal minority.
“It is time to value these assets properly in our fiscal framework … Time is of the essence – the sooner we invest, the sooner our constituents will begin to benefit from that investment in their communities.
“If we delay, we risk further entrenching the barriers to growth that have held our country back for too long. We say this upcoming budget is the time to grasp the opportunity efore us and act with conviction.”
Recap on all of the news and debate from party conference 2024 by LabourList here.
It comes as the Chancellor has been reported to be considering options to raise further revenue in this month’s budget, including introducing national insurance on employer pension contributions and a potential rise in capital gains tax to as much as 39%.
Labour’s first budget since returning to office will be held on October 30.
UK
Winning the last election means we have the chance to start rebuilding this nation’s prosperity after fourteen years of Conservative failure.
We have inherited the worst economic conditions since 1945. Fourteen years of cuts in investment left us with an historic fall in wages, the highest energy bills & inflation in the G7, and almost 3 million out of work due to sickness. Winning on July 4th means we get the chance to fix all this.
We can fix our economy by investing to rebuild our prosperity. When we were last in government, we invested in our public services, physical infrastructure, and skills. The result was each of us producing more year-on-year a.k.a. economic growth. Real wages increased by over a third as we invested in our workers, carbon emissions fell as we invested in clean energy, and waiting lists fell as we invested in our NHS.
In stark contrast, the past fourteen years were characterised by stagnation and then decline. The list of what we need to fix is very, very long. Below I set out (just) three of the major economic problems we face and how this Labour government can fix them.
The previous government’s decisions led to historic cuts in investment. Less investment led to a no-growth economy where each of us stopped producing more. Wages first stopped growing and then started falling. The squeeze in wages was unprecedented – the worst since Napoleon threatened our shores.
The Conservatives directly cut public investment (austerity) and indirectly cut private sector investment too. The private sector invested less as the last government created instability and lowered returns to investment by, for example, cutting skills funding.
Fixing It: Ending austerity will mean a very welcome increase in public investment. Private investment will rise when, firstly, we create the basic stability businesses need to invest and, secondly, when we rebuild our skills and infrastructure so each of us can produce more.
The last government’s cut and then blocked green investment. David Cameron’s decision to “cut the green crap” led to declines in home insulation and the blocking of onshore wind farms. This left us dependent on natural gas. Natural gas is more expensive than clean energy in any case. But Putin’s invasion of Ukraine caused the price of natural gas to skyrocket even higher, which then left us with the highest energy prices and inflation in the G7.
Fixing It: Investing in our own clean energy and insulation through GB Energy and our Warm Homes Plan will lead to lower energy bills. Home-grown clean energy is also more secure than fossil fuels supplied by foreign dictators. Solar and wind are 50 to 75% cheaper than natural gas. This is likely to fall even further in the coming years.
Almost three million are too sick to work because the last government broke our NHS. They left us with the longest waiting times in history, which means we were the only OECD nation to continue to see long-term sickness rise after COVID. A functioning health service is not an optional extra, it is serious economic infrastructure that the Conservatives decimated.
Fixing It: Rebuilding and reforming our NHS will help us all be healthier – and a healthier nation is one that produces more. We need to rebuild our NHS by hiring more doctors and nurses and we need to reform it too.
To stop chronic health conditions like heart disease becoming more common and costly, we need to invest in prevention rather than cure, and we need to prioritise funding for GPs rather than hospitals. That is the whole essence of the Darzi report that we will implement.
We can meet the economic challenges we face and create a nation where each of is better off. Previous Labour governments have built economic strength from rubble.
As Attlee once built the welfare state and laid the foundations for Thirty Glorious Years of growth, so too can this Labour government. We can raise public and private investment, build clean energy, and rebuild our healthcare system so that each of us can be more prosperous in the years to come.
Jeevun Sandher is the MP for Loughborough and served as an economist researching inequality and poverty at King’s College London and as a UCU trade union rep.@jeevunsandher
View all articles by Jeevun SandherUK
OCTOBER 11, 2024
By the Women’s Budget Group
The Government’s Employment Rights Bill is an ambitious step forward for workers’ rights, which has the potential to build an economy that truly works for women. Recent research carried out by WBG found that:
Dr Mary-Ann Stephenson, Director of the Women’s Budget Group, commented: “Women are still the majority of workers in low paid or precarious work in our economy. They have the most to benefit from new workers’ rights laws pledged by the new Government. The ambition set out in today’s Bill has the potential to reduce the gender pay gap and economic inactivity, growing the economy over time. Maintaining this ambition throughout the consultation process over the coming months will be vital to ensure the Bill is effective in building a feminist future of work where every woman is paid fairly, can work flexibly but with security and is free from discrimination or injustice.”
“But the Government can and must go further to genuinely improve women’s working lives and address the impact of unpaid care work and lack of access to justice. To deliver a feminist future of work, these reforms must also go hand in hand with bold reform and invest in our early education and childcare and social care systems as well as restoring access to legal aid. The Government must carry out and publish meaningful equality impact assessments to ensure policy is truly effective in reducing inequalities in the workplace and across the economy.”
On pregnancy and maternity discrimination, she said: “It is promising to see a commitment to strengthening the pregnancy and redundancy protections in line with what was set out in Labour’s manifesto. Our research finds that the most widespread employment law issue women seek help with is pregnancy/maternity discrimination. Extending the time limit for bringing a claim for three to six months will hugely increase vulnerable women’s access to justice. And we eagerly await the review of parental and carer’s leave. We urge the Government to continue to prioritise and deliver this within their first year, as committed to within the manifesto.”
On extending sick pay, she said: “The Bill also brings good news on lowering the threshold for statutory sick pay eligibility and removing the three-day wait period before a worker can claim it. It is important that rights to sick pay are extended to all workers. This would mean that 1.5 million women would have new rights to sick pay.”
WGG calculate there were 555,000 women on zero-hours contracts between April and June 2024 and 910,000 women who currently earn less than £123 a week according to TUC in January 2024 – that is 70% of 1.3 million.
Dr Stephenson added: “This is a step toward tackling women’s health-related economic inactivity, with 1.5 million women out of the workforce due to long term sickness (200,000 more women than men). Extending it to all workers and paying it at an adequate rate increases the impact on economic activity, allowing workers to take time off at early stages of a health condition and increasing the chances of recovery and remaining in the labour market.”
On gender pay gap reporting, she said: “However, it is important that policy design within the Bill is truly able to achieve its aims. For example, proposals around gender pay gap reporting for outsourced workers may inadvertently entrench low wages within female-dominated sectors like cleaning, rather than promoting fair, in-house pay. Addressing the root causes of the gender pay gap, which are often linked to low pay in roles traditionally occupied by women, should be a primary focus.
On Equality Impact Assessments, she said: “We welcome the extensive consultation Labour has pledged across many of the measures in the Bill, and are ready to support the Government in ensuring these policies are effective in creating an economy that works for women. To this end, it is critical for the Government to publish comprehensive equality impact assessments (EIAs) for the Bill as a whole and for each individual policy by the second reading of the Bill on 21st October. Meaningful EIAs will provide a foundation for informed policymaking, helping to dismantle systemic inequalities and avoid perpetuating cycles of inequality.”
Dr Stephenson argued for a holistic approach to policy-making: “Furthermore, if this Bill is to ‘genuinely improve women’s working lives,’ it must address the intersecting challenges women face. This includes not only employment protections but also improvements to childcare and social care infrastructure, as well as expanded access to legal aid. Only through holistic, well-designed policies can we build a resilient and inclusive economy.”
WBG argues that Labour’s Employment Rights Bill has the potential to help reduce the gender pay gap over time and build a feminist future of work:
– More women (3.5%) than men (2.8%) are employed on zero-hours contracts.
– 6.5% of women do not earn enough to qualify for sick pay compared to 2.8% of men.
– The gender earnings gap (weekly pay) was 25% for all workers in 2024 while the gender pay gap (annual pay) was 14.3%.
– More women (10.5%) than men (7.2%) are classified as low earners.
– 72% of people who work part-time are women.
– 25.1% of women compared to 19.1% of men are economically inactive.
WBG recommends that in order to deliver on the aim of closing the gender pay gap and increasing gender equality the Government should go further by:
The UK Women’s Budget Group is the UK’s leading feminist economics think tank, providing evidence and analysis on women’s economic position and proposing policy alternatives for a gender-equal economy. It acts as a link between academia, the women’s voluntary sector and progressive economic think tanks.
Image: Woman Suffering from Stress at Work. Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/193749286@N04/51418722107. Author: CIPHR Connect, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
Russian state targets Ukraine Solidarity Campaign
OCTOBER 11, 2024
A Russian authority — the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (ROSKOMNADZOR) have issued a demand to the Internet website hosting company WordPress to remove the website of the UK-based Ukraine Solidarity Campaign (USC).
Campaign organisers have been notified by WordPress’s legal department that they have received the demand from ROSKOMNADZOR to shut down the campaign’s website, following multiple successful appeals to raise money for urgent frontline, medical and transport aid.
The web hosting company confirmed to USC that it will not comply with the request. USC has been informed that while Russia has previously sought to close criminal activities online, this was a new initiative, and they had singled out the USC.
The USC website is now blocked by the Russian Federation. However, the intervention by ROSKOMNADZOR demonstrates the determination of the Russian state to attack international organisations that support Ukraine.
Alex Sobel MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Ukraine, said: “Censorship in Putin’s Russia is the norm. He is trying to spread his autocratic tendencies far and wide. We not only need to resist them but ensure Russians can read and hear the truth about Putin’s murderous actions in Ukraine.”
Mick Whelan, General Secretary of ASLEF, the train drivers’ union, an affiliate of the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign said it was the act of “a desperate despot seeking to hide his actions not only from his own people but the world. Deluded, as the world already knows and stands with Ukraine.”
Christopher Ford, USC Secretary said: “Russian hybrid war has sought to undermine popular support for Ukraine. Due to our campaigning, the Russia and Putin apologists have failed and the majority of the labour movement has stood by Ukraine. Now Russia wants to silence us, but they will fail and solidarity will win.”
John McDonnell MP, former Shadow Chancellor and a founder of the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign, said: “This is just another grubby attempt by Putin to prevent the Russian people from knowing the truth about Putin’s attack on Ukraine and the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people.”
The organisers of the campaign remain determined to grow their activity and strongly condemn the use of such intimidatory tactics. They view the demand as another example of Russia’s continued censorship of online content and its increasingly authoritarian laws to control information. These actions have seen the country plummet in global rankings of Internet freedom. Russia scores just 21 out of 100 points according to Freedom House, down by yet another two points since 2022.
The Ukraine Solidarity Campaign, founded in 2014, exists to build solidarity and support for Ukraine across the UK labour movement and build links between trade unions in the two countries. Five national trade unions, including UNISON, NUM, UCU, PCS and ASLEF are affiliated to the campaign, as well as a number of local and regional branches. The campaign group has been organising fundraisers and the delivery of material aid, including medical equipment and vehicles to units staffed by trade unionists on the ground in Ukraine.
Julian Assange with Rafael Correa on October 2, 2024 at the Council of Europe. Photo: Rafael Correa / X
On October 9, the US State Department published a statement declaring former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, as well as his former vice-president Jorge Glas, as ineligible to enter the country. According to the United States, the measure was taken due to the alleged “involvement in significant corruption during their time in public office”.
In 2020, Correa and other politicians close to his party were sentenced to prison in Ecuador for allegedly committing acts of corruption. Correa was not arrested and imprisoned because he was living in Belgium, a country that has, on several occasions, ruled out apprehending and deporting him for the charges he faces in Ecuador. Correa, as well as political leaders in Ecuador and across the globe, have affirmed that the cases against him and Citizen Revolution leaders are politically motivated. Legal experts have also criticized their convictions citing the complete lack of evidence in the case. For example, in lieu of concrete evidence linking Correa to any acts of corruption, the court resorted to sentencing Correa based on having “psychic and cognitive influence” and being able to “control others’ will.”
Perhaps because of the ease with which Correa traveled through several countries without being arrested since his conviction, his ban from the United States surprised some. For others it confirmed the collusion of the US government in the persecution of the progressive leader.
More than four years after Correa and Glas were sentenced for alleged bribery, the State Department declared: “Correa and Glas abused their positions as former president of Ecuador and former vice president of Ecuador, respectively, by accepting bribes, including through political contributions, in exchange for granting favorable government contracts…Anti-corruption provisions, including in government procurement contracts, help ensure the government delivers for its citizens. This designation also reaffirms our commitment to counter global corruption, including at the highest levels of government.”
The 7031(c) designation, which applies to persons that the US government considers to have participated directly or indirectly in acts of corruption or serious human rights violations, also affects the immediate family members of Correa and Glas who are also prohibited from entering the United States.
The former Ecuadorian president categorized the US decision as nonsense. According to Correa’s lawyer, Sonia Vera, the communiqué appears at a time when Correa had not requested to enter the United States, and Jorge Glas, who was kidnapped from the Mexican Embassy in Quito in April, is being held in a maximum-security prison, so it seems that the intention of the communiqué is for extrajudicial reasons.
On his X account, Correa hypothesized that the decision may have to do with his historical support to Julian Assange, specifically because on October 2 the former president published a photo with the Australian journalist during the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
He added that it also seems to be a smokescreen to distract public attention from the questionable administration of Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, whose government faces a serious crisis. Ecuador is currently in a very serious energy crisis, and the population must endure up to 10 hours of power outages a day, in addition to a wave of violence that the government does not seem to be able to contain. Given this, Noboa’s popularity is at risk, which is why, says Correa, the State Department would seek to discredit the Correista party Citizen Revolution: “In a few months, presidential elections will be held in Ecuador, in which the Citizen Revolution is the favorite and where Daniel Noboa, a US citizen…is collapsing due to [his] ineptitude and corruption.”
Correa also maintains that the State Department document “omits relevant aspects such as the fact that INTERPOL has refused to process the international arrest warrants related to this case because it considers them political, or that the ‘condemned’ have received asylum in countries with a strong rule of law such as Mexico, Canada or Belgium, because they are considered political persecuted.” He added that “nobody in the WORLD has accepted the sentence for ‘psychic influence.’”
Finally, Correa has acknowledged that throughout his life he resisted assuming the anti-imperialist posture that his counterparts in Latin America and progressive movements have maintained over the last century, but that in the face of these facts, he cannot fail to recognize his mistake: “In the decade I was president, when Ecuador and Latin America were boiling with progress and dignity, I tried to moderate certain progressive colleagues because of their deep anti-imperialist sentiment. It is up to me to recognize that I was the wrong one. They will not break us.”
Grupo de Puebla, a grouping of progressive Latin American political leaders, released a statement on his entry ban, calling it a, “clear act of interventionism in the current electoral process, political persecution and revanchism after the recent embrace of Correa and Assange in Europe. Comparing the country left by Correa and the chaos of the current Ecuador, the truth is clear.”
The truth is that the anti-Correa parties as a whole (including President Noboa’s) have not waited to use the US communiqué to their advantage. Many argue that this was the last piece to confirm that Correa participated in acts of corruption and that therefore his co-ideaties share an alleged corrupt attitude.
Beyond Correa’s interpretations, it is evident that the statement will be used by such political parties to undermine the possibilities of the Citizen Revolution to achieve a presidential victory. Although in Ecuador, Correism is the most loyal and solid political force (it usually reaches 30% of the valid votes in the first electoral round), in the last two elections, it failed to achieve victory in the second round by itself since the anti-Correa positions usually unite political adversaries behind the same goal: to prevent Correism from winning an election again.
In this sense, it remains to be seen how the decision of the United States will affect the internal affairs of Ecuador, a country in which the US Embassy has already played an important political role by making statements on internal affairs through its ambassador on duty or simply withdrawing visas to public figures, many times without giving explanations. These measures have a great media and political impact, so it would not be strange if the same thing happens now.
Correism will have to demonstrate if it can overcome this new adversity and conquer the presidency of the Republic, a golden goal that until today has been elusive after the election of its last winner, Lenin Moreno, who quickly turned his back on CorreÃsmo. On his part, Daniel Noboa could use the decision of the US as a possible escape valve to face the serious energy, economic, and security crisis that is undermining his popularity and putting at risk his re-election as President of Ecuador.