Love Socialism is a group of democratic socialist MPs who work together to promote progressive and cooperative ways of working and to promote socialist policies.
Why we need to Love Socialism
27 November 2020This article is published in the Independent Clive Lewis MP, Rachael Maskell MP, Lloyd Russell-Moyle MP and Alex Sobel MP “While one may encounter many defeats, one must not be defeated.” ― Maya Angelou Politics, just as in life, forces you to confront failings and reflect on that deeper truth – namely that you cannot become […]
Read moreA view on the EHRC report in to the Labour Party
15 November 2020The EHRC report was deeply upsetting and difficult to read. It was professional, factual and just in identifying the failings of the Party’s procedures and culture. We support, in full, its recommendations. The report reconfirms that antisemitism is a real issue in the Labour Party, primarily manifested through conspiracy theories about Jewish or “Zionist” power […]
Read moreLove Socialism – Transform Labour: (re)founding statement.
10 July 2020Our party has been on a journey. The past five years has seen Labour set out a radical agenda for a different kind of society. That progress, however, cannot be taken for granted, as both the 2019 election result and challenging political culture that grew up in the party showed. To inhabit this vision, it […]
Read moreAnother referendum isn’t a threat to our democracy, but billionaires are
8 November 2019Originally published on Labour List Last week, I got caught up in the first media controversy of the general election campaign when I told BBC radio presenter Emma Barnett that Britain shouldn’t have billionaires. My remarks were greeted with performative incredulity from Barnett, outrage among those in the Tory Twittersphere, and support from comrades and colleagues in Love Socialism. As […]
Read moreBring on the general election – and a referendum in 2020
1 November 2019Originally published on Labour List A December election it is. Brace yourselves for snowflakes on the Labour doorstep, a ton of Jeremy Corbyn as Santa memes, and, of course, an onslaught from our right-wing opponents and their friends in the media. Yes, there will be challenges, but we must stay optimistic – this is the […]
Read moreBrexit is a billionaire con. Why would anyone in Labour support it?
25 October 2019Originally published on Labour List Last Saturday, activists on the left bloc at the People’s Vote march dropped banners from the balcony of hedge fund investment firm Odey Capital reading “Brexit = disaster capitalism” and “Brexit is a billionaire con”. Founding partner Crispin Odey was a major sponsor of Boris Johnson’s leadership campaign, as well as a top […]
Read moreBoris Johnson’s Brexit will hurt disadvantaged people the most. No wonder he doesn’t want them voting
24 October 2019Originally published in the Independent Every time the Tories are in government, our democracy takes a battering. In the 1980s, Thatcher hacked away at our trade unions and abolished the Greater London Council. Boris Johnson tried to prorogue parliament to get his disaster of a Brexit through, bringing hundreds of thousands out onto the streets […]
Read moreJohnson’s deal is even worse than May’s. Labour must unite against it
18 October 2019Originally published on Labour List Saturday sittings in the House of Commons fell out of fashion in the 1730s thanks to Sir Robert Walpole, who wanted to “secure at least one day’s hunting a week”. This Saturday, Boris Johnson and his shambles of a government will put their Brexit deal to the House in their […]
Read moreXR and left Remainers share a common enemy – it’s time to stand shoulder to shoulder
10 October 2019Originally published in Labour List Extinction Rebellion are once again leading the way in how to organise a mass street protest movement. This week, the climate group have for the second time this year organised a significant presence across the capital, despite facing a much stronger police clampdown than previously. Many on the left share […]
Read moreWe need Jeremy in Number 10 to stop the Brexit crisis
4 October 2019Originally published on Labour List We are now into October, and the threat of a no deal Brexit at the end of the month looms despite the fact that parliament has passed a law to stop it. The truth is that neither our democracy nor the economy are safe as long as Boris Johnson’s government […]
Read moreLabour has already backed Remain in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – It’s England that needs to catch up
22 September 2019Originally published in the Independent Day two of conference in sunny Brighton, and UK Labour’s Brexit policy is about to be decided. Tonight is the important composite meeting, where the final text of Labour’s policy will be decided upon by delegates ahead of Monday’s crucial vote. UK Labour must join the view of the devolved nations and […]
Read moreIf consensus cannot be reached, we must vote on a Remain stance
21 September 2019Originally published on Labour List Conference is here and – for the second year running – Brexit is once again front and centre of events. Recent developments in Labour policy have been very welcome: a public vote on Brexit is not simply an option on the table as it was last year. Jeremy Corbyn has […]
Read moreThe left is now leading the anti-Brexit movement
6 September 2019Originally published on Labour List Every week has its drama, but seriously: what a huge week this has been for our politics. In opting for the prorogation of parliament, Boris Johnson has done more to marry the left and the Remain and transform movement than anyone else – including us in Love Socialism. With outraged members […]
Read moreWhy I’m ready to occupy parliament to stop the coup
30 August 2019Originally published on Labour List Strange things are happening in Britain. An unelected Prime Minister has asked an unelected head of state to shut down parliament so that no one prevents him from delivering his agenda. The Queen said ‘yes’ and normal legislative processes are about to be suspended. If this happened anywhere else (Turkey […]
Read moreLove Labour, hate Brexit? All out for the climate strike!
22 August 2019Originally published on Labour List On Friday, September 20th and Friday, September 27th, millions of people will take part in a global climate strike. The climate strike movement, initiated by students walking out of schools to demand action against climate chaos, is now spreading to our workplaces and wider society. This is potentially a moment of real significance. […]
Read moreBrexit will put America first and workers last. We must stop Boris
16 August 2019Originally published in Labour List Less than three months to go until Boris Johnson drives us off a cliff, and it certainly has been another interesting week in the ongoing Brexit psychodrama. The much-discussed founding statement of the newly-formed LeFT (Leave Fight Transform) campaign rightly spoke about 40 years of declining wages and the hollowing out of […]
Read moreWe’ve come a long way on Brexit – but let’s keep up the pressure
19 July 2019Originally published on Labour List I had the pleasure of spending Monday evening at the Love Socialism Rebuild Britain Transform Europe meeting in the House of Commons – and the atmosphere was electric. The room was packed with Labour supporters excited to hear shadow cabinet members unequivocally speaking out against Brexit, in some cases for the first […]
Read moreLabour’s public vote position is the only realistic option
15 July 2019Originally published on Labour List Labour’s endorsement of a public vote on any Brexit deal with a commitment to campaign to stay within the EU is hugely significant. It is time for Labour to show what a public vote would look like and how we build a broad coalition for both a referendum and Remain […]
Read moreAbortion rights must be at the forefront of Labour’s feminist agenda for Europe
12 July 2019Originally published on Labour List On Tuesday, I was proud to vote for Stella Creasy’s amendment to extend abortion access to Northern Ireland. It passed overwhelmingly, with 332 votes in favour and 99 against. This means that, unless a new Stormont executive is in place by October 21st (there hasn’t been one since January 2017), abortion […]
Read moreLabour must remember that freedom of movement is a class issue
4 July 2019Originally published in Labour List “Brexit is culture war” has become a cliché repeated in Labour circles and beyond. Such statements usually carry an implication: that Brexit is a mere distraction, dragging us away from class politics. But it’s easy to forget that culture wars have their victims too, most of whom are working-class people […]
Read moreLabour’s dismal polling is a sign things have gone very wrong – but a strong Remain campaign can claw it back
Originally published in the Independent Eighteen per cent. Fourth place. There is no positive way to spin Labour’s result in the most recent YouGov poll. The only time our party’s support has ever sunk this low in modern polling was in 2009, just after the economy entered recession at the end of Gordon Brown’s ill-fated […]
Read moreEuropean socialists are following Labour’s lead on radical change
2 July 2019Originally published in the New Statesman In alliance with other left and green parties, social democrats are forging a transformative programme. There was a renewed determination to focus on real change in Europe at last week’s meeting of European socialist parties, the first since the European elections. I was there as Labour’s representative on the […]
Read moreA confirmatory Brexit vote can end this nightmare – but we can’t campaign as Project Fear
24 June 2019Originally published in The House Brexit was a kick against the establishment for many, says Labour’s Clive Lewis. But he argues that the left cannot win by re-running the 2016 Remain campaign. It’s been three years since we turned on the news to find out that Britain voted to leave the EU. Nigel Farage declared ‘Independence […]
Read moreLabour must prepare for the premiership of Boris Johnson – with a Remain position
23 June 2019Originally published on Labour List une 23rd 2016, almost three years ago to the day, was a watershed moment in British Politics. Since then, our party has been on a journey. We had to interpret the result of a binary question put to the nation without detail and, in making Labour policy, attempt to square […]
Read moreLet’s show Brexit for what it always has been: a hard-right Tory project
14 June 2019Originally published on Labour List Nothing says ‘taking back control’ and clawing back sovereignty like suspending a democratically elected parliament to stop it getting in the way of an unelected Prime Minister. If this were mooted in any other part of the world, we would rightly condemn it as a descent into authoritarianism. But proroguing […]
Read moreThe fight for conference begins. Let’s tell Labour to lead the Remain movement
7 June 2019Originally published on Labour List With the local and European elections out of the way and a summer of Tory infighting in store, Labour members’ attention is gradually turning towards our own conference in September. The anti-Brexit left has now launched its motions drive, with Another Europe is Possible, Open Labour and Labour for a Socialist […]
Read moreFarage is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Only Labour can stop his politics of fear
20 May 2019Originally published in Labour List The fault lines in our economy and in our politics have been well and truly exposed by Brexit, but it has taken many years of crisis in our communities to get to where we are. After decades of deindustrialisation – with precarious and low-paid work replacing secure, unionised jobs – people […]
Read moreI’m campaigning for a confirmatory vote. This is what I say to Leavers
10 May 2019Originally Published on Labour List Newcastle upon Tyne voted almost straight down the line in the Brexit referendum – 50.7% to stay, 49.3% to leave. My region, the North East, as a whole voted definitively to leave by 58% to 42%. As a Love Socialism Hate Brexit MP who now argues for a confirmatory vote, […]
Read moreWe cannot defeat the message of hard Brexiteers by triangulating
26 April 2019Originally published in Labour List, by Rosie Duffield MP We are in full campaign mode. Local elections across much of the country are just a week away, and in a month from now, with Brexit pushed back until October, we will be electing our representatives to the European parliament. The Labour Party has already announced […]
Read moreOpposing Brexit and winning party democracy are part of the same struggle
11 April 2019Originally published in the Morning Star THIS critical stage in the Brexit debate is a time for the Labour left to present a united front. If you listen to some on the pro-Leave side, you would think most remainers in the Labour Party are neoliberals, longing for a return to some sort of pre-2016 utopia […]
Read moreLove Socialism Hate Brexit: We’re going on tour and want to meet you
Originally published on Labour List Love Socialism Hate Brexit is a group made up of Labour MPs who came together in February to fight Brexit and campaign for a socialist Labour government that can transform our society for the better. I was proud to co-found the group with Kate Osamor, Lloyd Russell-Moyle, Marsha de Cordova […]
Read moreA confirmatory public vote is our bottom line
5 April 2019Originally published on Labour List Every day, the Brexit process delivers something more unbelievable than the last. Sometimes this takes the form of living satire, like yesterday when the House of Commons is forced to suspend its sitting because it is literally raining inside. Sometimes it takes a more alarming form. If we weren’t so […]
Read moreAn open letter to Jeremy: a public vote must be our bottom line
3 April 2019This letter was sent to Jeremy Corbyn on 6th April 2019. Dear Jeremy, In a desperate move by a Prime Minister who has run out of options, the Labour Party has been invited to enter negotiations with Theresa May about reaching cross-party agreement on a Brexit deal. With no support in parliament or in her […]
Read moreJeremy agrees: we must have a confirmatory vote on any deal
28 March 2019Originally published on Labour List Authors: Marsha de Cordova & Alex Sobel The country is tired of Brexit, and so are we. Our national politics has become saturated with process and horse-trading, while our public services have been run into the ground and the planet is boiling. MPs have a duty to find a solution […]
Read moreIf a deal is passed, Brexit never ends. We must put a stop to it
21 March 2019Originally published in Labour List If a deal goes through parliament, Brexit never ends. The mood in every part of the country, and across the political spectrum, is one of fatigue and wanting this moment to end. But Britain’s departure from the EU isn’t the end of the Brexit moment – it’s the beginning of […]
Read moreCampaign against Brexit starts now – on positive terms only Labour can deliver
19 March 2019Published by the Guardian on 3rd March. We are proud to be part of a movement that is changing politics. In 2017, we were all elected on a brilliant, radical manifesto, and as members of the largest left-of-centre party in Europe. We also need to be honest about the fact that Brexit has posed a […]
Read moreLove Feminism, Hate Brexit: It’s nothing less than a disaster for women’s rights
8 March 2019Originally posted on Labour list by: Janet Daby, Preet Gill, Rosie Duffield, Kate Osamor, Rachael Maskell, Chi Onwurah & Anna McMorrin As women, we need to talk about Brexit. It’s a mess. For too long the debate has been dominated by male voices within Westminster and the right-wing agenda of men like Jacob Rees-Mogg whose […]
Read moreLGBT+ rights in Britain have flourished within the EU – we can’t let Brexit turn back the clock
6 February 2019Originally published in the Independent Last year in the House of Commons, I came out as one of the 100,000 people in the UK living with HIV. While there has been huge progress in treating HIV, it remains just one of many issues which disproportionately affects gay men. Gay men like me are also more likely […]
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