📢✊ Our public services need a bailout. Fair pay. Proper investment. Bring services back in-house. Public service workers show up every day. Now it’s the government’s turn. ✍️ Sign the petition ⬇️ buff.ly/N9kst09 #WeShowUp

"The aim should rather be to engage in the argument, set real expectations, and hold Burnham to them." @SeanWatersCllr tribunemag.co.uk/2026/10/hop…

I reported on Labour Party Conference for @tribunemagazine. Burnham is the most left-speaking Prime Minister in a generation - the Labour left has to be in the fight to make those words a reality. Article below👇👇👇

The Israel Football Association has said it wants to keep politics and football separate. “Any other approach spells chaos and a dangerous slide on a slippery slope, leading to disastrous consequences for the game we all love,” it said in a statement following Israel's match with Ireland on Sunday. But Israel routinely uses sporting and cultural institutions to claim international legitimacy despite its crimes against Palestinians. On Novara Live, Helena explains why the sporting boycott against Israel is so important.

Andy Burnham has told Channel 4 News the breaking up and selling off of services - such as water, transport, housing - is some of the “root cause of Britain’s problems”. He went on to say that he is “tracing back to where” he thinks “Britain started to go wrong” in order to plan for a better future of the country.

A FEW THOUGHTS ON THIS YEAR’S LABOUR CONFERENCE🌹 I’m just leaving Labour Conference, and it felt so much more positive than last year’s. Back then, under Starmer’s leadership, it seemed we were sliding inevitably towards a Farage-led government. Welfare cuts, the failure to act on Gaza and a strategy of aping Reform made that so much more likely. Starmer’s departure and Andy Burnham’s arrival have given us an opportunity we must take: to reset Labour’s direction and deliver on the real Labour values needed to rebuild our support and stop Farage reaching No 10. Andy Burnham has been right to talk about ending 40 years of neoliberalism, and he returned to that theme in his conference speech. That’s very welcome. Deindustrialisation, privatisation and the shift of wealth away from workers and towards the super-rich lie behind so many of the problems facing communities up and down the country. But reversing all that can’t simply be a slogan. It has to mean a decisive shift in who owns wealth, who exercises power and whose interests come first when decisions are needed. The job of the Labour left, trade unions and the wider movement is to help turn those words into reality through our ideas and organising. This year I spoke at 18 separate events with different campaigns and social movements. Listening at those discussions, it was clear that our movement really does have the answers to the crises facing our communities. The same was clear on the Conference floor, with delegates backing policies for taxes on extreme wealth and a windfall tax on banks to rebuild public services, the biggest wave of bringing public services back in-house for a generation, and mass council housebuilding. That’s the kind of change we need to see from the government. It was refreshing that there also seems to have been an important shift in the culture of the party. Under Starmer, those putting forward alternative ideas were treated as pariahs and even targeted with suspensions and the loss of the whip. While I won’t agree with the new leadership on everything (who does?), it’s clearly much more open to ideas from across our movement. So now we’ve got to get out there and make the case for our ideas. We can learn a lot here from the campaigning over Palestine. While more is needed, the very welcome shift in government policy on Israel came because Labour members and the wider solidarity movement refused to be silent. Hundreds of thousands organised and kept up the pressure. That underlines that campaigning works. Organisation matters. Political pressure moves governments. We need to bring that same determination to every campaign in the year ahead. We must keep pushing our policy demands to encourage the new Labour leadership to deliver the change our communities not only need but deserve. That’s the best way to rebuild our electoral alliance - winning back those who were so disappointed with us under Starmer - and the best way to stop Farage getting into No 10.

Throughout history, it's those who speak out when it's hardest to do so who make real change and are really remembered. That's why I'm so proud to speak at the Socialist Campaign Group rally this evening in Liverpool. #labconf2026

The Labour Left is alive and kicking! Another fantastic, packed rally at Labour Conference, launching our new pamphlet: The Socialist Policies We Need. Proud to be Secretary of the Socialist Campaign Group. 🌹

The cost of outsourcing The report estimates that public bodies spent £129 billion on outsourced services in 2024/25, equivalent to around 11% of total public spending. Private companies made £6 billion in operating profits from those services in the same year. #InsourceNow

'Government outsourcing has channelled public money into private profit, at the expense of workers’ rights, democratic accountability and service quality. Bringing services back in-house should be the default across the public sector.' @Cmmonwealth, @unisontheunion & @RMTunion

💷 £129 billion estimated public spending on outsourced services in 2024/25. 📈 £6 billion estimated operating profits from those contracts in that year. 👷‍♀️ Approximately 1.12–1.32 million workers in publicly funded services outside direct public employment. #InsourceNow

We were told outsourcing would transform our public services. But the reality has been far from the pitch. Our new report, in collaboration with @unisontheunion and @RMTunion , outlines why insourcing is needed across the public sector. common-wealth.org/publicatio…

Burnham's commitment to achieving net zero is welcome. But the £30m investment in community renewables announced today is insufficient Starmeresque incrementalism. theguardian.com/environment/…

As smaller artists this week have delivered a masterclass in solidarity and courage against censorship on Palestine, it was incredibly fitting to watch the small but mighty Artists Union move this motion. It means the TUC has officially adopted support for the Palestinian led boycott, divestment and sanctions movement for the first time.

Burnham govt offers £500m concession to ward off Starmer-stoked @NEUnion teachers strike. A Lab govt should make comprehensive commitment to pay restoration across public sector. Labour conference and the Budget both key moments to lock that in. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c6ly…

It is true. Following a summer of constructive dialogue with the Secretary of State for Education, Lucy Powell, we have secured a fully funded pay award for this year. (youtube.com/watch?v=AErQ9EqV…) An additional £500 million in funding will be made available to schools. This is new money. The funding comes from a re-evaluation of the Local Government Pension Scheme. Rather than being clawed back by the Treasury, these funds will instead be allocated to schools. The Secretary of State has also committed to engaging with the union should there be an inflationary spike during the pay settlement period. She has further committed to working seriously with us to find solutions to the ongoing issues of accountability, workload and staff well-being. I would like to thank all our members for their continued commitment, not only to education but also to our union. Our National Executive will discuss these developments on 24 September.

“It’s time to end the scourge of outsourcing.” 👏 #INSOURCENOW

PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote seconding Composite 9 on insourcing at #TUC2026, highlighting the victory won by PCS members working as outsourced cleaners, security guards and caterers: “They united together, went on strike for months, and they won… From 2028, those 2,000 workers will be insourced.” A huge victory for PCS members and proof of what workers can achieve when they organise. Now let’s end outsourcing across the board. #InsourceNow #UnityWorks #PCS

We demand the change we were told would come. That starts with the government delivering the massive wave of insourcing promised in the manifesto. My speech at #TUC2026 in support of @unisontheunion's motion

Since 1990, we've lost £200 BILLION to private shareholders through privatisation. In Episode 4 of SHOCKWAVE, we explore the privatisation of our energy system and ask what the long-term impact of this transformation has been.