“Attempting to outflank the far right has never succeeded nor will it. Worse, capitulating to the right shifts the political framing onto terrain where progress is impossible, legitimising the fear-driven narratives they thrive on.”
By Apsana Begum MP
Last month’s election results demonstrate that by cutting services, slashing disability support, and snatching away winter fuel assistance for millions, Labour’s current leadership are continuing to alienate voters.
In my local area, I am acutely aware of the anger that people feel – yes towards the political establishment across the board, but also specifically in response to the Labour Party under Keir Starmer’s leadership.
Time and time again my constituents tell me that they want an end to the right-wing political consensus. They tell me that they are disgusted in the complicity in imperialism, horrified by indifference to Palestinian suffering, and fed up with the economy structured to exploit, oppress and entrench inequality.
Yet the toxic and unpopular ideas of the right —eroding civil rights, scapegoating migrants, attacking welfare systems, privatising and dismantling public services—are increasingly dominating political discourse. Indeed, I remain suspended from the Labour Whip because I voted to scrap the cruel two child benefit limit.
The erosion of trust in Labour is not an abstract question — it is felt in the daily struggles of families forced to choose between heating and eating, disabled constituents stripped of dignity by brutal assessments, and food bank usage soaring.
When Labour appears to abandon its principles, it doesn’t “win” voters; it fuels despair.
The result is the creation of a political vacuum for Reform to step in to – cynically posing as rebels and exploiting their lack of previous formal power.
This must be a wake up call, and it is vital that the correct lessons are learnt.
On its own terms, attempting to outflank the far right has never succeeded nor will it. Worse, capitulating to the right shifts the political framing onto terrain where progress is impossible, legitimising the fear-driven narratives they thrive on.
It is no coincidence that the rise of the right globally comes as governments all over are cutting services, attacking working-class communities, and then blaming migrants and Muslims for systemic failures. Mainstream politicians peddle lies that migrants drain resources, stoking fear instead of fixing problems.
But we know that targeting migrants won’t raise living standards, build schools, or create opportunity. It only distracts from the real issue: a system designed to enrich the few.
To defeat the far right, we must reject their toxic agenda entirely.
We must expose that millionaire Farage has no interest in empowering people or redistributing wealth. Reform are not outsiders challenging “the system”— they are the system. They don’t merely serve the wealthy and corporate elites—they are the wealthy, the super-rich, and the face of big business.
Creating division and fear does not make someone “anti-status quo.” There is no courage in trampling on the most vulnerable. There is no “common sense” in recycling failed policies of the past—defending a political and economic system that stifles progress. Claiming to stand for our communities, or honour our history, means nothing when campaigns fuelled by contempt demean and divide us.
We must instead set out a vision of hope.
Because people are fed up with excuses. They are absolutely and utterly desperate for change. They reject the lie that poverty is inevitable while taxes are cut for the rich and wars funded. They see a wealthy nation with resources to end suffering but a system that hoards them.
Without delay, the winter fuel allowance must be re-instated, cuts to disability benefits abandoned, the two-child cap scrapped, and wealth taxed to fund universal public services.
More than this, our alternative must be bold and radical: a vision rooted in international solidarity and socialism. An economy that serves people, not profits. A society where no one is abandoned.
All over grassroots movements are showing that solidarity, not scapegoating, is the antidote to the far right: trade unions organising and empowering workers, communities defending services, tenant unions resisting evictions, mutual aid networks supporting migrants, anti-war movements standing up for humanity and climate activists blocking corporate greed.
Unlike Farage and his ilk, we can offer real solutions: lifting people up, not tearing everyone down.
- Apsana Begum is the MP for Poplar and Limehouse and a regular contributor to Labour Outlook. You can follow Apsana on Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram and Tik Tok.
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