We need a better politics

“The last few weeks have been an absolute spectacle – it is clear that this movement has voted for change, and not by a slight margin but by an overwhelming majority,” said Unite delegate Laura Pidcock as she spoke in today’s discussion on better politics (September 27).

“We are again a movement who are determined to seek out the silent voices to represent their concerns and to call out oppression wherever it exists.”

She asked why the media were “so determined to communicate that a Labour Party under Corbyn and strong socialist principles are unelectable, I want to know which electorate they are talking about?”

But the facts were these she said. “Arguments about electability is code for the simple truth that some people count more than others in this country, that we are not really a democracy because those who have the most shape politics.”

She said that “immigration was used as a political pawn at the last election,” but “unlike the Prime Minister we will not dehumanise those forced out of their countries to find safety. That is what we mean by better politics.”

Alienated population  

She said that better politics were needed to bring back “huge swathes” of an alienated population; people who were “locked out of our political process through language that is unnecessarily complicated. Political education must be a right of all in this country, not just the preserve of the rich.”

Calling people apathetic when they were disengaged was wrong and patronising. She said we should “think about the whole political system, and our policies rather than blaming those who feel disenfranchised.

“Corbyn’s campaign and the Scottish Referendum has shown us that when you give people an actual choice, they speak en mass.”

Laura concluded by saying Labour needed to “be a transformational force, a party of hope, care and compassion.”

View Laura’s speech here