Back to blogging - for Labour victories

Regular readers (Sid and Doris Blogger) will have noticed the dust gathering on this blog recently.

In the last fortnight I have attended my last meeting of the UNISON Greater London Regional Committee and my last negotiating meeting with my employer as Secretary of Lambeth’s Joint Trade Unions (a position from which I have stood down).

I have taken a break for a holiday and returned, somewhat unwell, to find a General Election campaign in partial (if not full) swing.

Workers and trade unionists need to get behind Labour candidates (who are offering us twenty pledges this time!)

I shall refrain from comment on important internal labour movement issues of democracy and the like until 9 June – now is not the time for us to rehearse those issues.

I’m hoping to be fighting fit and campaigning, as Chair of Brighton Pavilion Constituency Labour Party, in the next few days.

The odds are stacked against us in this election, but the Party’s mass membership, and the unpredictability of electorates in the recent past could be wild cards in our favour.

At any event it is now in our hands to campaign, to get voters on the register (particularly young voters who are least likely to register and most likely to vote Labour) – and to get votes cast for Labour candidates.

What matters in this election is to aim to defend Members of Parliament at risk from the Tories and to defeat vulnerable Tory MPs. The Party – and the wider movement – must prioritise ruthlessly.

We must also maintain focus – ignoring attention seeking nonentities who try to betray our Party and answering the incessant attacks which our leadership will face with a resolute focus on positive policies for working people our families and our communities.