There have been penalties for those who looked the other way when Epstein was convicted of child sex offences and decided to maintain relationships with the financier — but not for the British ambassador to Washington, reveals SOLOMON HUGHES
Labour needs to seize the agenda and fight for a wealth tax
RICHARD BURGON MP says Labour needs to spell out a bold alternative with a National Care Service funded by taxes on the super-rich
A 5 per cent tax on wealth above £100 million, 10 per cent on wealth above £500m and 20 per cent on wealth above £1 billion would raise £97 billion
Labour’s new Treasury unit will ‘challenge unnecessary regulation’ by forcing nominally independent bodies like Ofwat to bend to business demands — exactly what Iain Anderson’s corporate clients wanted, writes SOLOMON HUGHES
DR DYLAN MURPHY looks at a Big Brother Watch report which exposes the government as an enabler of DWP secret spying on benefit claimants
The EU faces a critical choice: will it remain in the shadow of an increasingly unreliable US ally, or will it forge its own path in a multilateral world where co-operation with China is essential, asks MARC VANDEPITTE as leaders meet for the EU-China Summit
A lot of discussion about how the left should currently organise – including debate on whether the Green Party is a useful vehicle for advance – runs the risk of refusing to engage with or learn from the reasons the left was defeated previously, argues KEVIN OVENDEN
For Egypt trade trumps the Israeli genocide of the Palestinians, but how long can the country’s ‘misleaders’ – and others in the region – continue their indifference against the popular will of their own people, asks ROGER McKENZIE
THE debate on how to fund much-needed social care investment has forced the issue of taxation to the top of the political agenda.
Of course, the crisis in social care goes well beyond just its woeful funding - it raises issues of privatisation and profiteering, of sickeningly low pay for such important workers, of deregulation, and of the underfunding of local councils.
But our broken social care system can’t be fixed without a huge boost to funding. The Health and Social Care Select Committee, for example, says a £7bn annual increase in social care funding would only be a “starting point” and that a “substantially higher” figure would be needed.
Of course, the crisis in social care goes well beyond just its woeful funding - it raises issues of privatisation and profiteering, of sickeningly low pay for such important workers, of deregulation, and of the underfunding of local councils.
But our broken social care system can’t be fixed without a huge boost to funding. The Health and Social Care Select Committee, for example, says a £7bn annual increase in social care funding would only be a “starting point” and that a “substantially higher” figure would be needed.
It's right that the whole Labour movement is rejecting the regressive Tory plans to pay for much-needed investment through national insurance hikes. Such a hike would hit the lowest-paid workers while letting off the hook those whose income comes not from work but from wealth.
But what is Labour’s alternative to the Tory plan? It is simply not good enough to say we will wait until the next election to map out our alternative either on social care or on how we will raise the funds for investment in our public services.
An election could now be less than two years away. Labour is lagging behind in the polls, the leadership’s approval ratings have plummeted this year with the public increasingly deeming it unlikely to form the next government.
To turn this around our party needs to urgently paint a picture of what it stands for. Timidity at this time from the Labour leadership risks many more years of Tory rule.
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RICHARD BURGON MP points to the recent relative success of widespread opposition to the Labour leadership’s regressive policies as the blueprint for exacting the changes required to build a fairer society
In his May Day message for the Morning Star, RICHARD BURGON says the call for peace, equality and socialism has never been more relevant
RICHARD BURGON MP argues that a broad, united mass movement can stop the cuts and ensure it’s the wealthiest that pay their fair share
RICHARD BURGON MP says the government should use the Employment Rights Bill to reverse a shameful Tory decision on discrimination
