{"id":5164,"date":"2015-08-07T15:57:48","date_gmt":"2015-08-07T14:57:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=5164"},"modified":"2015-08-07T15:57:48","modified_gmt":"2015-08-07T14:57:48","slug":"hope-finally-on-offer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=5164","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Hope finally on offer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Liam McCafferty, postgraduate education officer for the University of East Anglia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s students union, is one of Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s newest members \u00e2\u20ac\u201c he just signed up this week.<\/p>\n

 
\nMcCafferty, 23, has been involved in student campaigns for many years, which inspired him to join Unite.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThrough my experience, I saw just how effective and valuable community organising can be, and joining Unite I see as an opportunity to continue to do this work.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nMcCafferty is originally from a former mining town in Yorkshire, where prospects for many young people are bleak.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very little hope for young people where I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m from, but I believe hope is finally on offer in this Labour leadership election \u00e2\u20ac\u201c young people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s issues are now truly part of the debate,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 
\nMcCafferty noted that the leadership election is especially important because the Labour party is now at a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bcrossroads\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re really at a historical turning point now where the party must decide whether it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to be a party that stands by and represents ordinary working people, or whether it panders to big business and private interests, the way it has been doing for many years now.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nHe criticised those who have said that the anti-austerity policies now on offer in the Labour leadership election are taking the country \u00e2\u20ac\u015bbackwards\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis policies aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t taking us backwards \u00e2\u20ac\u201c for young people, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s taking us forwards because we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never been exposed to these policies. All we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve known is neoliberalism and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve experienced first-hand how harmful it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nMcCafferty helped register students to vote in the most recent general election.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAt the time, yes we were signing up students and encouraging people to vote, but always with the feeling that what we, as young people, weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t being offered any real sense of hope,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI honestly can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t blame any young person that wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t inspired enough to vote in the general election.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nThis leadership election, however, McCafferty senses an unprecedented mobilisation of young Labour supporters who have a renewed interest in the future of the party.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bA renewed focus on young people has the power to galvanise new voters up and down the country, and it will be what the Labour party needs to win in 2020.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nInterested in signing up to vote in the Labour leadership election as a union member? Find out more here<\/a>, and don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t forget the last day to sign up is August 12.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Liam McCafferty, postgraduate education officer for the University of East Anglia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s students union, is one of Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s newest members \u00e2\u20ac\u201c he just signed up this week.   McCafferty, 23, has been involved in student campaigns for many years, which inspired him to join Unite.   \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThrough my experience, I saw just how effective and valuable […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5165,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[324],"wps_subtitle":"A Labour party young people can believe in","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5164"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5164"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5167,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5164\/revisions\/5167"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}