The Socialist Party was there. We had a petition to calling on Your Party councillors standing
in the May 2026 council elections to take a no-cuts budget policy. This is particularly relevant
after four Birmingham Labour councillors announced their resignation from the party earlier
that day, and attended the Your Party rally.
People were supportive of what we said. Many of them raised the schism among the Your
Party MPs as reason to hold the new party to higher standards going forward.
Birmingham independent MP Ayoub Khan as well as Jeremy Corbyn were the featured
speakers. They focused heavily on ex-Labour members, who had become disillusioned under
Keir Starmer’s government. Corbyn was the star of the show by a wide margin, and a huge
favourite of the crowd.
The local impact of successive Labour and Tory governments was a key talking point. The
years-long bankruptcy of Birmingham Labour council is one of the more overt examples of
austerity’s utter failure.
It is the result of years of underinvestment and pandering to shareholders that has left life
expectancy lower than national average, ordinary workers more hopeless than ever, and a
despair that leads many people to think that Reform is the only viable option left.
The Birmingham bin strike, now entering its tenth month, was called out in particular as an
example of the power of trade unions and the spread of working-class consciousness. Neither
the local or national Labour governments have provided workers with an acceptable deal. The
local council has still found millions of pounds to pay private organisations to collect ‘excess’
rubbish.
The UK’s continued military support of the Israeli government’s genocide of the Palestinian
people was huge for the crowd, especially in light of the recent attack on the Manchester
synagogue that has been disgustingly weaponised by Starmer and his ministers to further
repress pro-Palestine protests. Corbyn invited everyone to join the anti-war march on 11
October in central London.
A living wage for workers, and public ownership of public transport, energy, and water were
other positive commitments made. A question posed on how to prevent the privatisation of
the NHS was met with an emphasis on the importance of local communities campaigning,
and holding MPs who would profit off of private medical care to account.
It was heartening to see the level of fervour for an alternative. But what the rally lacked was
immediate action to get involved with, despite the importance placed on grassroots
campaigning. There was no clear notion of how the party would be organised, and no true
throughline that connected the many commitments to how they could be practically achieved.
May’s local elections, including in Birmingham, will be a great opportunity for Your Party
council candidates to stand and win. They could do this by pledging to vote against all cuts,
campaigning to restore services, jobs, and pay stolen by Labour and Tory austerity.