[First delivered by Siddharth Pandey at the September 2026 meeting of the YCL Central Committee meeting, 12th-13th September]
Since the last time this committee met, a new Prime Minister has been imposed on the British (and Northern Irish) populace. In a desperate bid to rescue legitimacy the Labour Party has had to shuttle someone untainted by the stench of the Parliamentary Labour Party. The found their man in Andy Burnham, who won his parliamentary by-election by running an ostensibly anti-establishment campaign to become leader of the establishment. Despite his protestations of completing his term as MP, Starmer announced he will stand down as MP in order to focus on ‘international politics’ and ‘violence against women and girls’. One wonders how he squares these priorities with his complicity in the genocide in Gaza which simultaneously makes a mockery of international law and slaughters women and girls?
Despite his anti-austerity and old Labour rhetoric as ‘King of the North’ Burnham has been forced back down to Earth as Prime Minister. His appointment of John Healey as Chancellor instead of the frontrunner Ed Miliband shows that the war-first position of the previous Labour government continues. He has continued with this ostensibly ‘anti-establishment’ rhetoric in parliament talking about deindustrialisation and the decentralising of power with precious little to show for it. His flagship ‘No 10 North’ is being presented as a major step towards decentralisation of power from London despite two of the 4 constituent countries of the UK being entirely North of this Northern outpost. On the industrial front it has been announced that Trans-Pennine Express will outsource the building of 30 trains. This will take 8 years, after which the new Great British Railways will rent these carriages rather than building and owning the trains themselves.
Burnham is reported to have said that Irish Unity is ‘off the table’ seemingly being unaware that per the Good Friday Agreement this is not his decision to make. It then appears he was handed a copy and, having read it, decided that a similar criteria should apply to Scotland. Given the pro-independence majority in Holyrood one wonders if another independence referendum is on the horizon? The contradictions within the positions of this Labour government are particularly noticeable when Burnham says that he is committed to increasing Defence funding but not at the expense of welfare spending. This leaves the options of raising income tax or the introduction of a wealth tax to plug the funding gap, neither of which will be palatable to a Labour Party in need of working class votes and ever more willing to bow to City interests.
Recently we saw scenes of masked up protestors storming the port in Dover. Extremely organised and dressed to intimidate, these men were chanting ‘stop the boats’ and ‘Christ is king’ importing Christian nationalist rhetoric from the US. Indeed one of the ringleaders ‘Danny Thommo’ (who has a conviction for kidnapping) admitted to receiving £30k of funding from the US to organise this stunt. This marks an evolution in the tactics of the far right, which until recently was more engaged in bussing in protestors for more regular demonstrations. The need for an organised anti-fascist response has never been stronger and we must combat their cynical co-option of VAWG and the effects of immigration at every turn. The complicity of the mainstream media must also be noted: the BBC report that a ‘group’ invaded the hotel hosting the Pakistani cricket team thinking it was housing migrants, and a recent Panorama documentary platformed a Neo-nazi who referred to Glasgow city centre as a ‘no-go zone’ without challenge.
Simultaneously we have seen Reform UK suffering some recent tumbles. Engulfed in a personal money scandal, Nigel Farage stood down as MP, called a by-election, stood and won the election that was boycotted by all major parties while simultaneously setting the record for the most candidates ever on a British ballot. He is now once again under investigation. A sting operation has cast new doubt on Reform’s funding, and just this week Reform has received two 36m donations (when the previous record was 10m). At the same time Reform has taken tumble in the polls with Labour now in first with the ‘Burnham Bounce’ and the Conservatives rapidly gaining on them from the rear. While Farage struggles between pandering to the far right and trying to position himself more in the centre pitching himself as the next Prime Minister, members of his own Party such as Zia Yusuf are seemingly going rogue. This reveals the lack of a firm class basis for Reform; while Farage attempts to court the ruling class by moderating his rhetoric and soliciting money, Yusuf, Jenrick and co are appealing to the most reactionary aspects of the working class, pitting them against migrants. Reform are stuck between the two as their economic agenda is dependent on imposing the most brutal austerity while their voter base is still in support of a welfare state and a wealth tax. The sudden willingness of the media to hold Reform’s feet to the fire is evidence of contradictions within the ruling classes over which of Labour, Reform or the Tories is the right horse to bet on.
All is not well within the devolved nations either. In Scotland the SNP have announced a shakeup of the NHS, reducing the number of health boards from 4 to 2, without any real detail on the shape of these boards. With the claimed goal of reducing the number of high paid executives leading health boards, this seems more akin to a centralisation of power, and an attempt to give the appearance of change without actually doing anything. In Wales, we are already witnessing deep divisions within the new Plaid government. Having failed to get a budget past the Senedd, there are now open internal rebellions within the Party on issues ranging from data centres to an arms fair held in Newport earlier this month.
On the international stage, the PM has announced that the UK government will sanction illegal settlements in the West Bank. While certainly not sufficient this is still a significant shift in foreign policy and should be celebrated as a victory for the pressure campaign that has been ongoing since the beginning of the genocide in late 2023. The ongoing protests, demonstrations, divestment and boycott campaigns have been central to keeping pressure on the UK government and turning public opinion against the Israeli apartheid state. In contrast, Burnham’s first foreign visit was to Ukraine, to double down on the government’s willingness to fight to the last Ukrainian. It is now incumbent on the youth to continue the BDS campaign to its conclusion within our unions and communities and strengthen the movement against militarisation.
A raft of reforms are going through the Cuban parliament currently which will liberalise certain aspects of the economy to invite in foreign investment. These reforms have been in planning for around 10 years however they have doubtlessly been accelerated by the deteriorating conditions in Cuba due to the tightening stranglehold of the US through sanctions, with schools being forced to close and surgeries being carried out by torch light due to the lack of electricity. It is incumbent on the British youth to join the Cuba Solidarity Campaign and raise awareness of the plight of Cuba within a largely unaware British population.
Trump continues his onslaught against Iran despite there being no realistic prospect for success and the negative impact it is having on his party’s election prospects this autumn. The Houthis have strengthened their control of the Red Sea, and the only other route for oil to pass through Saudi Arabia being a pipeline that has now also been bombed. At the same time we are seeing victories of left candidates across the US, focusing on cost of living and opposition to Israel. This has prompted a crisis within the Democratic Party who are spending more time fighting the left wing of their own party than the Trump administration and exposes the class basis of the Democratic Party who rely on the votes of the working class yet rely on the financial support of the liberal wing of the same ruling class as support the Republican Party and are thus a party of the ruling class. Thus the gap within the wings of the Democratic Party is larger than the gap between the two parties. While there are limitations to this growth of left wing politics within the Democratic Party as seen by certain compromises and capitulations it is nonetheless encouraging to see the emergence of class politics within the belly of the beast.
All hope is not lost, comrades. In Portugal a general strike was able to defeat a spate of damaging anti-worker reforms. This was the first general strike in Portugal in 12 years, with 2-3 million workers on the street every day. The Portuguese Communist Party were recognised for their leading role in this struggle, which no doubt helped bolster crowds for their annual Avante festival which had 175,000 attendees.
