Our November Discussion Meeting

       

               DRONFIELD LABOUR PARTY DISCUSSION MEETING

TOPIC :           THE LABOUR PARTY AND BREXIT

SPEAKER :      PAUL BLOMFIELD MP, SHADOW BREXIT MINISTER

TIME :              8pm to 9.15pm.

DATE :            SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 11th

VENUE :         CONTACT CLUB, SNAPE HILL LANE, DRONFIELD, S18 2GJ.

Since 2010 Paul has been the Labour MP for Sheffield Central. Increasing his majority from only 165 to a massive 27,748 in two successive contests. He is one of Labour's Shadow Brexit Ministers (for Exiting the European Union) working closely with Labour's main spokesperson on the issue - Keir Starmer. There is an important link here to a key recent article he wrote on the Brexit situation -  https://www.paulblomfield.co.uk/european_union/

He was Chair of the Sheffield District Labour Party from 1993 to 2009. Then when he initially moved to parliament he became the Private Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Leader of the Commons. A position which gives him a good understanding of the parliamentary processes relevant to any form of Brexit Procedures. He was also the Private Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Foreign Secretary.

He was named Citizens' Advice MP of the Year in 2014 for his work on the regulation of payday lenders and is Secretary of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Debt and Personal Finance. He is also Secretary of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Universities and Chair of the All-Party Group for Students.

Sunday's Discussion Meeting

             DRONFIELD LABOUR PARTY DISCUSSION MEETING


TOPIC :           THE REFERENDUM ON THE EUROPEAN UNION

FORMAT :      We have two speakers, limited to 15 minutes each. 
                         Both are Labour Party members.  
                        
                        The speaker arguing that we should leave the EU will by DAVID SKINNER.

                        The speaker arguing that we should stay in the EU will be HARRY BARNES.
                             

TIME ;             8pm to 9.15pm

DATE :            SUNDAY, 13th MARCH

VENUE :         CONTACT CLUB, SNAPE HILL LANE, DRONFIELD S18 2GT


David addressed us on the 40th anniversary of the Clay Cross Rent Rebellion,
an issue covered earlier - click here. 


                                                                                                                            Harry Barnes

March Discussion Meeting

          DRONFIELD LABOUR PARTY DISCUSSION MEETING

TOPIC:                     LABOUR AND EUROPE

SPEAKER:               LINDA WOODINGS

TIME:                       8pm to 9.15pm.

DATE:                     SUNDAY, 9th MARCH, 2014

VENUE:                  CONTACT CLUB, SNAPE HILL LANE,
                                 DRONFIELD


Labour's European team in the East Midlands (l-r): Rory Palmer,
Linda Woodings, Glenis Willmott, Nicki Brooks, Khalid Hadadi.


Linda is an East Midlands Labour Candidate in the European Elections.

She is a Communication Workers Union (CWU) representative working in British Telecom and is the regional political officer for the East Midlands CWU.

She negotiates for call-centre workers and campaigns to protect and improve employment rights; to protect the postal service and to restore call-centre jobs back to the UK.  She is currently campaigning to close loopholes in the Equal Treatment for Agency Workers legislation and for call centre workers to receive a Living Wage.

Linda regularly campaigns in the East Midlands target seats and on national and local by-elections.  She is a member of the National Policy Forum and the Labour party regional board.  She is chair of Nottingham South CLP and is also a magistrate on the Nottingham bench.

What Are Your Responses To Ken?

Below are two related items from Ken Curran who is a regular at our Discussion Meetings. Responses are welcome in our comment box.

(1) Is Labour in Terminal Decline?

The signs are certainly not good across Europe. The Democratic Left are in trouble. All the various opinion polls tell a similar story. Democratic Socialist Parties across Europe are failing to present alternative policies to the electorate which would give the electorate confidence in a socialist alternative. The reason being that our parties are not opposing free market and finance capitalism. We occupy the same middle ground as those we are supposed to oppose.

To the average voter. our parties are almost indistinguishable. None of Europe's Democratic Socialist Parties present an alternative to free market and finance capitalism. While many of us know the present system is completely unsustainable, our leaders fail to admit the inescapable reality. There may be some excuse for many who fail to quite understand what is happening to our world in both economic and environmental terms. There is no excuse for those amongst us who do have an understanding. The silence on part of many of our political class is nothing short of criminal negligence. Since August 2008 our economies have been in chaos. Five years on and we are still no further forward. None of Europe's so-called Socialist Leaders have, to the best of my knowledge made statements presenting socialist alternatives which will give voters confidence to support our Socialist Parties. All across Europe, the political establishment appears to suffer from mental paralysis. They appear to live in fear of saying anything in case they frighten the very monster which is currently devouring Europe - namely Finance Capitalism.

During the late 19th Century and the 20th Century, Democratic Socialism offered hope to the poor and the dispossessed. Today we have no vision. The only hope we offer are food parcels and sympathy. Ed Miliband's "One Nation" Labour statement which was enclosed to Labour Party Members along with a ballot paper for selecting Labour Euro Candidates is about as exciting as a wet Sunday in Doncaster. In spite of all the dire information about climate change, future famines, floods and people losing their homes - none of these are mentioned. We genuinely deserve better leadership than this. We are just being fed the same kind of trash which we have heard many times before. It is rather wearing that the quality of the thinking is as poor as the so-called solutions. If Democratic Socialism can produce nothing better than "One Nation Labour", then Europeans should fear for the future.

(2) Building a Socialist Vision for Europe.

A Guardian leader column back in 25 May about Europe's centre-left was headed "A Programme Without Frontiers". It dealt with the question of the decline in Europe's electoral support for all of the centre-left parties in Europe. The article raises the question which a number of us in the Yorkshire Co-operative Party have pursued for some time. It asks whether Europe's Centre-Left Parties would have more credibility if they could offer a European-wide centre-left programme. In the light of the experience since the collapse of the Banks and the Market in 2008 one would have thought that Europe's Socialist Leaders would have been trying to find solutions to the present crisis which were more akin to their political ethics.

Up to the present time there has not been any real sign of seeking a collective approach based upon socialist ethics. The Democratic Left are failing to create a political vision for Europe which the electorate of all of Europe would be able to identify as being different from the Centre Right. This is just like when the Democratic Left failed to create the great European Vision sort by Keir Hardie before the First World War and then failed again in the 1920s and 1930s with the rise of Fascism and the Second World War. The political inertia in Europe should concern us all. We have to learn that it is just that form of indecisiveness which provided Hitler with the circumstances which led to the Second World War.  Within the Democratic Left there is no dialogue with our comrades in Europe. When our leaders meet, regrettably they are not discussing alternative solutions where our political ethos can be distinguished from the politicians of the Centre Right. There is a distinct lack of serious discussion amongst the Parties of the Democratic Left in Europe to create a comprehensive debate which is inclusive and gives individual members the opportunity to help to build a socialist vision of Europe. Our leaders are so committed to finding quick and easy solutions to the problems of climate change and the economy that, by and large, they apply sticking plaster to wounds that actually require major surgery. They paper over the cracks in the wallpaper of capitalism, leaving the problems, whilst trying to secure the political power they seek by pragmatism.  By and large, Europe's Democratic Left have neither a Map nor Compass in order to plot a political course.

We need to make our own links with our sister parties in Europe and begin the process of creating a structure which could lead towards forming an alternative structure which could lead forward towards creating an alternative Democratic Socialist vision of Europe. We need to act quickly as events may overtake us, leaving the Democratic Left without hope or influence in the future.   

Ken Curran, Chair Sheffield Branch of the Yorkshire Co-operative Party. Democratic School or Socialism.         

Is Ed Miliband Paving The Way For An EU Referendum?

On 11th March, Natascha Engel addressed the Dronfield Labour Party Discussion Group on the topic  "Why We Need A Referendum On Europe".  After two months, the matter has now moved to the top of  Labour's Agenda. Ed Ball has indicated that Labour might adopt such an approach sometime in the future and now Ed Miliband has placed Jon Cruddas in charge of Labour's policy development. Jon is a known supporter of the call for a referendum. Along with Natascha Engel, he voted for the proposal after debate in the Commons recently - although it lost out in the short run. See this article on the matter in the Daily Telegraph. 

"Keep Clear of the Eurosceptics" by Jon Williams

Here is an interesting article from the online Morning Star dated 30th Jan - I was a little surprised to see Natascha Engel our local Labour MP described as a Eurosceptic! The article describes the launch of "People's Pledge" an organisation seeking a referendum as to whether the United Kingdom should remain in the European Community. It is supported by prominent Eurosceptics such as Daniel Hannan MEP and Zac Goldsmith MP.

Gordon Brown is still an underrated PM - during his leadership a way through the 2008 Credit Crunch was found. His article here has more substance and sound reasoning than some of the People's Pledge members (who are listed here in Wikipedia). Why are Pro Euro members of this group giving Little Englanders more exposure than is necessary? A bit like Labour's current predicament at the moment - the message they give is confusing and not precise. Do they want us to be in our out of the European Union? Some of members are anti-European, whilst others claim they are European Union supporters but only see a referendum as some sort of democratic device. What other referendums do they want - whether we should stay in the United Nations, keep the Act of Union, continue with a Monarchy, remove the remaining elements of the Welfare State, re-nationalise industries etc? Why go for a referendum on anything from the past, unless you wish to wipe it out?

The Morning Star report states that -

"The cross-party People's Pledge movement revealed plans to hold referendums in 11 parliamentary constituencies this year - followed by up to 100 more in 2013.

Prominent Eurosceptic Labour MP Natascha Engel chaired the launch event.

She was flanked by fervent anti-EU Tory MP Douglas Carswell, and Labour MP Keith Vaz, who is a strong supporter of EU membership.

They voiced their passionate belief that the British people must have the right to decide on the nation's future relationship with the EU - either in or out."

As Gordon Brown points out "... British politicians are now unable to argue for anything that has the adjective "European" in front of it, and because we are now glorying in isolation, we have abdicated our natural role in Europe and today there are far too few voices arguing for a common globally oriented European Union growth strategy and against protectionism and insularity."

Jon Williams