Kevin Courtney, chair of the TOGETHER alliance and former NEU general secretary on why working-class people need to unite
It’s easy to see why so many people have lost faith in mainstream politics. Our country has become more and more difficult for working people since the banking crash of 2008.
It’s all but impossible to get on the housing ladder, with millions facing exorbitant rents. The NHS is in a permanent crisis, schools and fire stations are being cut, and the cost of living is out of control.
Reform are riding high in the polls. But they don’t offer a way out. They are backed by many multi-millionaires and landlords. In December, a crypto currency multi-millionaire, Christopher Harborn, made a £9 million dollar action to Reform - one of the biggest political donations in UK history.
The super-rich like Reform because what they're promising is even more cuts and deregulation. They're super-Thatcherites; that’s why so many Tories are defecting to join them.
Nigel Farage likes to point the finger at migrants and refugees, just like his hero Donald Trump. But it’s not refugees who are to blame for the housing crisis or the NHS waiting lists or the cost of living squeeze.
We badly need change in our country, with the rich and the landlords paying a fairer share. The working class has to unite together to demand it.
That’s why 50+ organisations have joined the TOGETHER alliance - a grouping of unions, anti racist and community organisations aiming to resist the rise of the far right.
Farage has made it clear if he wins power, one of his big targets is firefighters' and teachers' pension schemes along with other policies attacking unions.
That’s why TOGETHER is urging people to come together to demonstrate on March 28.
Togetheralliance.org.uk
