‘Your Party can become the party people actually need’
Ahead of the Your Party conference (29-30 November), we spoke to a few local Your Party groups about how things have been going and their hopes for the conference and beyond. Watch this space for more #YourPartyLocal articles in the coming days.
Piara Miah has been doing community work for years, but in recent months became interim co-chair of Wirral Community Independents. She told the Canary:
We need ordinary people to stand up for ourselves and join Your Party so we can help it become what we need it to be.
Your Party—’Supporting and learning from each other’
Miah insisted that:
Our councillors and MPs have unquestioningly accepted cuts from central government instead of standing up for us.
And in this context, she and hundreds of other people attended the June rally in Liverpool with Jeremy Corbyn and a number of community independent groups. And she said:
The need and desire for a genuine socialist party were palpable. The atmosphere was electric!
She added that:
Two weeks later at another Liverpool meeting, a handful of us from Wirral came together. We had a couple of meetings of our own to get organised, then invited the wider public to join us.
“The engagement has been great,” Miah told us, the Wirral meetings “are now monthly events”. She explained:
We want to engage, educate and empower people and normalise talking about politics. We already have a 49-person Steering Committee, five social media accounts, and one Your Party councillor. We have also connected with more than 40 other newly formed Your Party groups and we’re all supporting and learning from each other.
The establishment ‘fear us getting organised’
She’s excited about this weekend’s conference because:
After we formalise our name, I think we can start campaigning more confidently.
And because local elections are only due in 2027, there’s time to mobilise.
She insisted:
We have to work on providing everyone affordable housing, a comprehensive NHS service free at the point of use, publicly owned utilities and public transport, a world-class education and the right to live and work in dignity and peace. These are the things that matter to people.
But she also highlighted that opposition to NATO — as “the imperial war machine keeping us in perpetual wars” — should be a key line distinguishing Your Party from other parties.
Wirral Community Independents haven’t been waiting around, though. As she explained:
We are already campaigning alongside some incredibly courageous healthcare professionals to stop US spy tech company Palantir from introducing their proprietary tech in our NHS and Council services. Support from Jeremy and Zarah would definitely ensure our messages reach more people. We need people to object to this insidious takeover en masse both locally and nationally.
She is fully aware that the establishment doesn’t just fear outspoken left-wing politicians, “they fear us getting organised.” And that’s why she’s one of many around the country who are working hard to try and make sure Your Party becomes an organisation that truly empowers members and communities, and truly shakes up the political system.
Featured image provided by author
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Your Party has, to put it mildly, scored more own goals than I can count. The self inflicted wounds have to stop, if they want to have much impact.
I really hope the conference is a success, but this will require unity between Zara and Jeremy, democratic control of the bureaucracy , not centralised Labour mark 2 controltrol of the bureaucracy and Party machine, and an open grass roots based movement.
As a party they need to work with other progressive left wing parties, starting with the greens to have an electoral alliance, perhaos based on primaries.
But most of all a basic set of policies making our lives, public and personal, better, fair taxation for all, a renters charter and rent cap, a green n ew deal and a moral foreign policy
I agree.
On the face of it, Your Party should be a winner. However, with the constant problems within the senior ranks including arguments over misogyny, several resignations from a very small base, funds not being remitted,, let alone mis-starts, opposing views, not toeing a line, running off and being disjointed over timings , this is just normal Labour Party and, sadly, not for me
It also looks like control by committee so it isn’t going anywhere.
For me, the main thing is, come GE time, Your Party has an electoral pact with Greens. It’ll be ridiculous if candidates from both parties stand against one another. My wife attended Jezza’s event in East Oxford last night. This was at capacity and was very well received. Meanwhile, just about all of national/international politics is going from bad to worse. We cannot afford not to let this new party work following its at times rocky beginnings.
Agreed YP can only work in some kind of pact with Greens , I hope at least this can happen for our local elections. However, when it comes to the GE, what would the Greens gain by such a pact? They would lose government ‘Short money’ for each seat they did not contest (in favour of a YP candidate with a better chance of winning, and vice versa). And in return they would lose public reputation if YP shenanigans continue in this way. Our image is plummeting, face it. I’m staying around because of the good people locally, but I can’t blame anyone who doesn’t want to join or donate at present.