Malcolm Moreland, local trades council chair, speaking (Click to enlarge)

Grimsby 'Defend Corbyn' rally

Angela Greenfield, Grimsby Socialist Party

On Saturday 23 July, 'North East Lincs Unite 4 Corbyn' held a successful rally attended by 140 people in Grimsby town centre, in support of Jeremy Corbyn. This was a follow-on from a well-attended public meeting of over 80 held three weeks earlier, which saw the setting up of the North East Lincs for Corbyn campaign on the initiative of Socialist Party members.

This meeting brought together Corbyn supporters from inside and outside the Labour Party, determined to build a campaign in North East Lincolnshire in the face of the hostility shown towards Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn by the MP and councillors in the Grimsby and Cleethorpes Constituency Labour Parties (CLPs).

A number of speakers addressed the rally, with comrades from the Grimsby and Lincoln branches of the Socialist Party, along with Socialist Party Yorkshire secretary, Alistair Tice, sharing the platform with members of the Grimsby and Cleethorpes branches of the Labour Party, the local chair of the Trades Council, Malcolm Moreland, a representative from Scunthorpe Momentum and a young Labour member from Louth.

Sadly, some Labour Party members, including one Labour councillor, pulled out of speaking at the rally due to pressure that they had received from the CLP; but several pro-Corbyn councillors did attend the rally.

The NE Lincs for Corbyn campaign is ongoing, with a further rally planned to take place in Cleethorpes in a couple of weeks' time.

This version of this article was first posted on the Socialist Party website on 26 July 2016 and may vary slightly from the version subsequently printed in The Socialist.

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