Boot out Boris and his bosses' deal. General election now!

Mass action to force an election
No to a Tory bosses' Brexit
For an anti-austerity, Corbyn-led government with socialist policies
For an EU exit deal that defends jobs, workers' interests and the environment

Tories out! photo Mary Finch, photo Mary Finch (Click to enlarge)

The Tory party chose Boris Johnson as its leader because he promised to deliver Brexit by 31 October 2019, even if it meant leaving without a deal.

When push came to shove, however, in a childish gesture of defiance he sent his request for a further extension to Article 50 unsigned - but he sent it, along with his own letter opposing an extension.

Johnson, of course, has never been motivated by the needs of the working-class majority. The Tories are a party of big business and the super rich. Risking a disorderly no-deal Brexit, with its likely disruption of their profits, was not in the interests of the capitalist elite. It is pressure from them that forced Boris to blink.

The Brexit deal Johnson is now trying to push through parliament is a bosses' Brexit, designed to aid the further undermining of public services and workers' pay and conditions. It is worse even than May's deal. Legal commitments to keep as a baseline the minimal, and often unenforced, current level of workers' and environmental protections that exist in the EU have been removed.

In their place - in a desperate bid to try and get Labour MPs to vote for the deal - Johnson promised that a government minister would be obliged to report on any lessening of employment rights as compared to the EU! As if having the vampires report how many pints of blood they were planning to drink would lessen the crime.

The latest round of parliamentary shenanigans will have deepened millions of people's frustration at the pro-capitalist politicians who dominate the Palace of Westminster.

There is an overwhelming need for a general election, and the election of a government that stands in the interests of the working class. Such a government could negotiate a Brexit deal based not on a Tory bonfire of workers' rights, but on a programme for decent jobs, wages and public services for all.

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The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.

The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.

The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.

The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.

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From: The Socialist issue 1061, 23 October 2019: Boot out Boris and his bosses deal. General election now!

Boot out Boris and his bosses' deal. General election now!

Donate to the Socialist Party

Finance appeal

From: The Socialist issue 1061, 23 October 2019: Boot out Boris and his bosses deal. General election now!