“Everyone has an interest in standing up to these far-right thugs. Their hatred, racism, and division are being funded and cheered on by the super-rich to distract from the real causes of people’s problems.”
Richard Burgon MP has released the following statement on the serious threat of far-right violence following the openly racist Tommy Robinson-led demonstration, which turned violent in central London on Saturday.
We are in an incredibly dangerous moment.
We not only face the threat of a far-right government coming to power for the first time in our history, but also a violent far-right street movement on a scale not seen here in decades – if ever.
This street movement, led by convicted criminal Tommy Robinson, is especially dangerous for Black, Muslim, Jewish, and other minority communities. And we need to build the broadest possible opposition to it.
Everyone has an interest in standing up to these far-right thugs. Their hatred, racism, and division are being funded and cheered on by the super-rich to distract from the real causes of people’s problems: our rigged economic system.
This stoking of hatred and division offers ordinary people nothing. It won’t build a single council house. It won’t put a penny more into the NHS. It won’t deliver higher wages. But it does allow the super-rich to shift the blame, protect their privilege, and keep getting richer – while everyone else is left worse off.
Throughout history, we have driven these far-right forces back.
And it is up to all of us – from different parties, from different communities – to come together, and to drive them back again.
- Richard Burgon is the MP for Leeds East, the Secretary of the Socialist Campaign Group of MPs and a regular contributor to Labour Outlook. You can follow him on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.
It is a sound analysis.
Labour should retrieve public wealth from the super-rich by reintroducing the Development Charge and back-dating it to 1954 when the Tories abolished it