Protest casts shadow over Labour Party's annual conference
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Outside the conference's venue in Liverpool, protesters voiced their frustration, reminding PM Keir Starmer that their votes were cast for change.
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Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer addresses members at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, England, Tuesday, September 24, 2024. (AP)
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer attended the annual UK Labour Party conference in Liverpool, addressing the difficult decisions facing his government and outlining the party's future direction.
Outside the venue, protesters voiced their frustration, reminding Starmer that their votes were cast for change and warning him that they wouldn't allow complacency, Press TV reported on Wednesday.
"People weren't voting en masse for Labour. They were voting to get the Tories out because of their austerity and their lacking in many areas," one protester was quoted as saying.
Another protester criticized the government's initial policy choices, saying, "The first tough choice they made was to take some money away from some of the poorest people in society, from the pensioners, in making the decision to cut the winter fuel allowance for pensioners."
The list of grievances extended from Starmer’s warnings of tough times ahead to concerns about the National Health Service (NHS) and reports of gifts from party donors to him and his cabinet.
Steph Pike from the People's Assembly indicated that "it's particularly shocking at a time when they're cutting benefits for pensioners and refusing to lift children out of poverty … that he's benefiting to the tune of thousands."
Starmer came under scrutiny after an investigation by Sky News and Tortoise Media revealed that he had received more than £100,000 in gifts and hospitality since December 2019.
Although the gifts were declared and did not violate parliamentary rules, the reports surfaced as his government urged Britons to endure short-term financial hardship for long-term benefits.
One of the most contentious policies involves Labour's proposal to cut winter fuel payments, which would leave millions of pensioners £300 (nearly $400) worse off.
Labour's foreign policy also came under fire, with critics arguing that Starmer could not use his predecessors' missteps as a pretext for his decisions.
"Yes, the previous government made huge cuts and brought this country to its knees, quite frankly, but the Labour Party's job when it got elected was to stop, not only just stop the cuts, but to rebuild the things that the Tories had broken," Pike explained.
"We don't buy this stuff about there's not enough money. There's plenty of money," she added, suggesting that the UK government could stop arming Ukraine and "Israel" as well, reduce defense spending and "tax the rich."
Starmer has made it clear that his government will continue to support Ukraine amid its ongoing conflict with Russia. Meanwhile, the Labour government suspended only 30 of the 350 arms export licenses to "Israel".
However, many within the party are calling for broader suspensions, with a recent poll indicating that 75% of Labour members support a complete arms embargo, particularly since components for the F-35 combat aircraft—used in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza—were excluded from the ban.
Labour officials have also prohibited the use of the terms "genocide" and "apartheid" in reference to the Israeli occupation entity's actions against Palestinians in promotional materials for a side event at their annual conference.
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) disclosed that Labour officials refused to permit the use of "genocide" and "apartheid" in the title of their fringe event, initially named "Justice for Palestine: Confronting Genocide and Ending Apartheid."
The event sought to press the UK government for stronger action against the Israeli aggression on Gaza and its unlawful occupation of Palestinian territories. The session was instead listed in the official conference program as "Justice for Palestine."
On Tuesday, a protester interrupted Starmer's speech at the convention, yelling about the war on Gaza before the Prime Minister resumed his statement amid clapping.
Starmer responded by jokingly saying the protester "got a pass from the 2019 conference," citing that "while he's been protesting, we've been changing the party, that's why we've got a Labour government."
