Neil Findlay MSP, Scottish Chair of the Corbyn4Labour campaign to elect Jeremy Corbyn as UK Labour Leader, sets out the policy agenda driving the campaign.
So over the last few weeks we have witnessed every conceivable smear and scare story heaped on Jeremy Corbyn as he fights a campaign of hope that is bringing thousands of new members back into the Labour party.
As we run into the period when ballot papers will be sent out, the Corbyn campaign will continue to focus on a vision of hope and a belief that we can build a country that is better, fairer and more equal than the society we live in at the moment.
Jeremy’s campaign team have been clear from the start – there will be no personal attacks on opponents, but a clear focus on policy and vision would be the driver for the campaign. And it is a policy agenda that I believe reflects many of the priorities that were raised by voters time and again on the door steps over the last few years. Issues such as:
- Supporting a publicly run and financed NHS, rejecting privatisation, competition and a market in our health service.
- Investing in a mass national house building programme to address the housing crisis.
- Supporting the nationalisation of the railways and retention of Cal Mac in the public sector.
- Opposition to war and conflict and a commitment to the UK playing a role as an advocate for peace and justice throughout the world.
- Rejecting spending on the renewal of Trident at the same time as austerity bites hard in our communities.
- An end to university tuition fees.
- A fair taxation system.
- Support for trade unions and protection of workers.
- Opposition to tax credit cuts and the benefit cap.
- And a constitutional convention to address issues of devolution across the UK.
It is this progressive policy agenda that is bringing members back into the Labour Party. It is this agenda and Jeremy’s ability to articulate it in language that people relate to that has captured the imagination of members across the land.
In the final month, the Corbyn campaign will concentrate on policies that will bring even more people back to Labour; policies that will provide clear alternatives to the Tories and the SNP; and policies that will arm party members with a clear and confident policy platform based on our values – values of peace, justice, solidarity, fairness and equality.