Len McCluskey warns Labour: “The time for being timid is past”
In a typically barnstorming speech to marchers and demonstrators who took part in ‘Britain Needs A Pay Rise’ march organised by the TUC, Unite’s Len McCluskey laid it on the line to Labour today.
Following the Scottish Referendum, UKIP’s by-election win in Clacton and the slashing of Labour’s majority at Heywood & Middleton, many political commentators, Labour Party members and trade unionists have willed Labour to take on the Tories and set out clear policies that will win voters back to Labour’s cause.
In a combatitive speech, Len McCluskey hammered the Government’s austerity policies and the damage they have done, but he saved his toughest message for Labour’s leadership saying:
“The millions we represent here today know there is an alternative to the starvation policies of the Tories
- Tackle tax dodgers
- Build more homes
- Bring the banks under real public control
- Freeze energy prices
- Re-nationalise rail
- And boost the minimum wage immediately
It needs strong fighting trade unions It needs a mass movement for social justice in every town, every village, every workplace.
And it needs a Labour party that offers a clear socialist alternative at the next election.
Aiming directly at the heart of Labour’s leadership he said:
So I say to Labour – stop being scared of your own shadow.
Don’t shrink what you offer the British people.
The time for being timid is past.
Be brave, be inspired by this march today.
Believe that people power and working class movements can change our country for the better – as history tells us it can.
The achievements of our forefathers and mothers are in our hands Hold on tight, comrades, keep the faith – keep fighting and victory will be ours.
You can’t be clearer than that!
