Paul O'connell

inside: full coverage of the general election results and reaction nationwide for Peace and Socialism £1.50 Saturday/Sunday December 14-15 2019 Proudly owned by our readers | Incorporating the Daily Worker | Est 1930 | morningstaronline.co.uk after a brutal nigHt at tHe POllS uniOnS SaY it StraigHt n FEATURE we lost – so how do we start winning? PAUL O’CONNELL argues that REMAIN despite appearances, the Tories are vulnerable, and the left has opportunities to turn disaster into forward motion again. Turn to page 10 n ALGERIA mass march decries IS OVER ‘sham’ elections FORMER deputy prime minister takes power after disputed polls which were boycotted. Labour’s Brexit fudge a major factor in horror show Turn to page 7 by Bethany Rielly said that Labour “have to learn lessons” said he had hoped other issues “would from their losses. cut through to voters” during the cam- He stressed that this does not mean paign. LABOUR was urged to accept that the party should move away from its But he admitted that this had not it “got it wrong” on Brexit and that readiness to confront capitalism under happened, with the Tories’ simple “Remain has been defeated” yesterday leader Jeremy Corbyn but “it does mean “Get Brexit Done” message overriding following Thursday’s devastating elec- accepting that the battle for Remain Labour’s pledges to save the NHS and tion result. is over.” restore our public services. Over the course of the long and bru- Mr Courtney continued: “Remain Labour went into the election last tal night, dozens of Labour constituen- has been defeated in a referendum month campaigning for a second ref- cies turned blue for the first time in and now it looks like it has been com- erendum on EU membership. decades — most of them Leave-voting. prehensively defeated in a general It came after 25 MPs — many in This included the former mining election. Leave-voting areas — wrote a letter n FEATURE town of Blyth Valley and Workington “The movement needs to move on.” to Mr Corbyn urging him to back a where Labour had held the seat with The results finished rolling in yes- Brexit deal because a second referen- Back to kicking off only one interruption since 1918. terday with the Tories up on 364 seats dum would be “toxic to our bedrock Communications union CWU’s gen- and Labour on 203 — the party’s worst Labour voters.” everywhere again eral secretary Dave Ward said the rea- uniOn CritiC: CWU leader Dave Ward defeat since 1935. On Thursday this appeared to prove sons for the disappointing defeat were Facing calls to step down, Mr Cor- true. Signatories of that letter were ZOLTAN ZIGEDY looks over clear: “Labour got it wrong on Brexit. betrayal and the final straw,” he said. byn announced that he would move also among the MPs to lose their seats, the global wave of street-level “Millions of people who know the Mr Ward’s view was shared by teach- on after giving time for a “period of including Caroline Flint who had stood rebellions which have been economy, the world of work and politics ers’ union NEU joint general secretary reflection” by the party. in Don Valley for over 20 years. taking place this year — and in general isn’t working for them saw Kevin Courtney. Responding to the exit poll result, Turn to page 3 their implications. the move to a second referendum as a Writing in a personal capacity, he shadow chancellor John McDonnell Star Comment: p8 Turn to page 12 PAGE 22 japan: ‘recovery olympics’ isn’t going down well near fukushima Morning Star morningstaronline.co.uk 2 Saturday/Sunday news morningstaronline December 14-15 2019 @m_star_online n communist partY statement n General election General election PM HAS ‘OVERWHELMING result a defeat for the working class MANDATE’ FOR BREXIT DEVASTATING: Heavy defeat for Labour due to referendum policy, says PM’s senior adviser by our news Desk economic and social policies. He said: “The disunity pro- by lamiat sabin moted by those fanatically pro- THE urgent task now is to build EU elements who manoeuvered mass campaigning movements, the party into a position where it BORIS JOHNSON claimed yes- Communist Party (CP) general was seen by many working-class terday he would heal the divi- secretary Robert Griffiths said electors as a ‘Stop Brexit’ party sions of Brexit after a string of yesterday. also played a major part. Labour strongholds fell to the The CP’s political committee “In this new political situa- Tories. will meet on Monday to assess tion, the CP will be redoubling During a speech outside the threats posed by the outcome its efforts to strengthen the Downing Street, the Prime Min- of the general election. labour movement, including ister said that his majority of In a statement, Mr Griffiths the trade unions, many of which 80 gives him an “overwhelming said: “Undoubtedly, the result played a splendid role during the mandate” to take Britain out of was a defeat for class politics and six-week general-election cam- the EU by the end of January. for Labour’s left and progressive paign. All 650 seats were declared programme. “Now is a time for rebuilding, by the afternoon, showing the “It changes the political land- extending and developing Brit- Conservatives’ strongest elec- scape in England, Scotland and ain’s extra-parliamentary mass tion performance since 1987. Wales. A majority Conservative movements in working-class Labour supporters were left government will now seek to roll communities. In particular, we in shock on Friday, having seen back rights, including the right look forward to working even their pro-Brexit heartlands self-reflection of why they mis- the Liberal Democrats lost one, A sliver of hope could be seen to strike, and to recommence more diligently with and in the turn blue and their pro-Remain understood what was going on while the SNP gained 13 in Scot- in Putney, a historically Tory the ruling-class programme of People’s Assembly Against Aus- vote split with other parties. in the country. land. seat that was taken by Labour. privatisation. terity, the peace and anti-racist Mr Johnson’s controversial “But instead a lot of people Emma Dent Coad, the only Meanwhile, all the MPs who “But equally, despite the hos- movements, the National Assem- chief adviser Dominic Cum- just doubled down on their Labour MP that Kensington switched from both Labour and tility of powerful forces in the bly of Women and the LeFT Cam- mings criticised “educated own ideas and fucked it up has ever had, lost the seat she the Conservatives to the cen- establishment, big business and paign for a People’s Brexit. Remainer campaigner types” even more.” won in the 2017 election to the trist Independent Group for the mass media, millions of peo- “We should also note one who failed to read the mood “MPs need to reflect, the Tories after 18 months in office. Change lost their seats. ple have voted for Labour’s radi- important lesson from the gen- of the country. media needs to reflect and they Lib Dem Sam Gyimah split the Two former Labour MPs cal manifesto. This must now be eral-election result and its main Mr Cummings is credited need to realise that the conver- anti-Tory vote, receiving 9,312 turned Lib Dems – Chuka built upon.” causes — the urgent need in Eng- with organising the Vote Leave sations they have in London are votes in what was described as Umunna and Luciana Berger – Mr Griffiths said there were land, Scotland and Wales for a campaign in the 2016 referen- a million miles away from real- a failure of tactical voting. failed to secure seats in London. a number of factors behind much stronger, more influential dum. ity,” he added. Ms Dent Coad was just 150 Pro-Corbyn independent can- Labour’s defeat, including the CP and a much wider readership He said: “After the shock Results on Friday showed votes away from retaining the didates George Galloway and “relentless state-sponsored and of Britain’s only daily socialist of the referendum, MPs and that Labour lost 59 seats, most constituency ahead of the sec- Chris Williamson both lost media attacks” on Jeremy Cor- paper: the Morning Star.” journalists should have taken notably in ex-mining commu- ond phase of the Grenfell tower their deposits.” byn’s character and on Labour’s [email protected] a deep breath and had a lot of nities in the north of England, inquiry in the new year. [email protected] n beast of bolsover Sign up to our newsletter and get your daily dose of the Morning Star direct to Dennis skinner loses seat to a tory by lamiat sabin your inbox each morning. Select ‘newsletters’ from the home page DENNIS SKINNER was one of the highest-profile casualties of the Morning Star website or scan this QR in this week’s general election after he was unseated by a Tory code with your mobile phone and sign up. who worked for a company pro- viding privatised NHS services. In a shock result, the “Beast of Bolsover” – a permanent fixture on the Labour benches for 49 years who rarely missed a Com- mons session – was unseated by Mark Fletcher, the former com- TEL: 020 8802 4855 FAX: 020 8826 5076 munications director for “digital 73 GRAND PARADE, GREEN LANES, HARINGEY, LONDON N4 1DU healthcare company” Synergix. Bolsover was one of many OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK Leave-voting seats that Labour 9AM — 12 MIDNIGHT lost.

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