“Our message was that the government must change course before its character is permanently stamped by these early attacks on core Labour supporters and core Labour values, and electoral recovery becomes impossible.”
By Nick Rogers
The Labour Party in Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s constituency has unanimously rejected two recent government initiatives.
The General Committee of Tottenham Constituency Labour Party meeting on 28 May backed one motion opposing the cuts to welfare for disabled people, and a second decrying the anti-migrant rhetoric of the Prime Minister.
Cuts for the disabled
DWP Secretary of State Liz Kendall’s proposal to cut spending on Personal Independence Payments (PIPs) was condemned by the first motion as leaving “many of our poorest and most vulnerable residents in Tottenham destitute and without basic support”.
The cuts were judged to be “severely ill thought out”. The motion explained that the current system of assessing eligibility “already distinguishes between those with disabilities who can and cannot work”. The cuts would have a hugely detrimental impact on those who cannot work. It would also remove support from those seeking to work.
Analysis indicates that disabled people in Haringey would lose in total approximately £30 million of support each year. This will have a devastating impact on the lives of people in the borough who need help to lead dignified and fulfilling lives.
Anti-migrant rhetoric
The second motion took Prime Minister Keir Starmer to task for his 12 May speech introducing the latest immigration white paper. His assertion that recent immigration had caused “incalculable damage” to British society and that Britain risked becoming an “island of strangers” is belied by the positive experience of Tottenham, one of the most culturally diverse places in the country. Communities in Tottenham are far from being strangers.
The mover of the motion pointed out that Tory party leader, Ted Heath, had sacked Enoch Powell from the Tory opposition front bench for his 1968 “rivers of blood” speech. In 2025 we have a British Labour prime minister echoing some of Powell’s language. It is Starmer’s rhetoric that could do incalculable damage to British society.
Proposals in the white paper, such as doubling to ten years the period migrants must live in Britain before qualifying for permanent residency and citizenship, are gratuitously nasty and will make it more difficult for migrants to become part of British society. As will the more than halving of provision for teaching English to speakers of other languages (ESOL) during the years of austerity – cuts the government is not reversing.
Labour’s support collapses
Starmer’s speech was a transparent and crass response to Labour’s drubbing at the 1 May elections (local government and parliamentary by-election) and the dramatically strong showing by Reform. The motion pointed out that similar attempts in European countries to block the rise of the far right by copying its language and policies have served only to legitimise and increase support for the far right.
The government has learnt the wrong lessons from adverse polling. It is its attacks on ordinary people in the form of the winter fuel allowance cuts and the proposed cuts in provision for disabled people that have caused support for Labour to collapse.
Labour in Tottenham lost a recent council by-election to the Greens. The PIPs motion pointed out that the cuts in these benefits were “the number one issue that came up on the doorstep”. Similar reports from around the country indicate that Labour’s austerity measures are the real reason for the 1 May disaster.
People from across the whole range of Labour thinking in Tottenham united on 28 May. Every GC delegate at the meeting voted for both motions. Our message was that the government must change course before its character is permanently stamped by these early attacks on core Labour supporters and core Labour values, and electoral recovery becomes impossible. Labour must deliver the change it promised in the general election.
- Nick Rogers is the Treasurer (and former Chair) of Tottenham Constituency Labour Party.
- If you support Labour Outlook’s work amplifying the voices of left movements and struggles here and internationally, please consider becoming a supporter on Patreon.
