Support for strikes demonstrates a shifting public mood. Unless politicians listen, something more sinister may fill the vacuum
The past few weeks of British politics have been very strange indeed. As one of the hottest summers on record drew to a close, a wave of militant strike action propelled union leaders on to the national stage for the first time in decades. A new mass movement to combat the cost of living crisis attracted tens of thousands of supporters within days. With Britain facing an imminent recession, Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng announced tax cuts for the rich in a “fiscal event” that felt like a surreal exercise in looting the country.
It’s clear that nobody in the political mainstream is offering solutions that are remotely up to the task of dealing with the climate crisis, the imminent recession or the spiralling costs of energy bills and other basic essentials. The new Conservative leadership has a policy agenda that would have seemed like satire or science fiction in the 1980s, while Labour has become so preoccupied with its factional war against the left that it seems not to care that Jeremy Corbyn’s core policy programme always enjoyed broad popular support.
Jeremy Gilbert and Alex Williams are the authors of Hegemony Now, published by Verso.
