The 156th annual TUC Congress was held from September 8-11, 2024, in Brighton. It had the overall theme, "A New Deal for Working People".

While this theme is taken from the election promises of Starmer's Labour Party, the TUC Congress itself was marked more by the delegates addressing the problems besetting the economy and health, education and other social programmes, as well as the unanimous support for the Palestinian people resisting Israeli-Zionist genocide. The motions reflected the workers' movement grappling with the conditions of the anti-social offensive of successive governments, and speaking out on the challenges working people face.

The 2024 TUC Congress showed that there is a growing awareness that the workers' movement must set its own agenda and programme, and not be concerned with "rocking the boat" for the Labour Party. In particular, the Congress demonstrated that the mood of the workers' movement is to reject the austerity programme and "difficult decisions" that the Labour Party leadership is touting, and in that sense take forward its own resistance movement, encapsulated in the slogan Enough Is Enough!

Some quotes from trade union leaders

TUC Congress 2024

Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite, said that while she welcomed the election of a Labour government, more radical measures are needed to "fix our broken nation". She added that "the economic path that [Labour] are on is simply wrong". "There is money in our society," she said. "We do not need to pit pensioners against workers. We can and must make different choices."

Mick Lynch, general secretary of the RMT, called for Labour to announce significant real-terms increases in public spending to support public services. "We cannot balance the books by cutting off the heating from our pensioners," he said. "Britain's economy needs investment - our infrastructure and communities too. We've had a continuous austerity regime and now we need a labour recovery and the creation of a fair economy that works for our people. Labour has to find a better, fairer way to fix our economy, our NHS, our infrastructure and our communities. We cannot rely on the current fiscal strategy. We can't stick to the Tory economic rules, because that means the Tories still rule the economy."

Paul Fleming, general secretary of Equity, said: "It is irrational to think that the same economic choices of the last 14 years, the same economic structures of the last 14 years, will produce a different outcome from that which we have now." On the New Deal for Working People, he said: "We must not be told the bosses' narrative that this is what will cost and limit growth - in fact, it is what will deliver it."

Matt Wrack, who has served as general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) since 2005, and is at the end of his one-year term as TUC President, cited Margaret Thatcher's drive to promote profit and David Cameron's war against "excessive health and safety" as being responsible for events like Grenfell, describing it as the result of a "grotesque ideology" which "has created a building safety crisis affecting millions". The FBU general secretary also described himself as an internationalist and sent "solidarity to the Palestinian people".

What the situation demands

The situation is demanding that the workers' movement rejects the outlook that the solution to the economic problems of the country lie in various schemes, the essence of which is to pay the rich and deny investment in the most basic social programmes which are a necessity for working people. The situation is demanding that working people elaborate the alternative, with they themselves setting the agenda from the reality of the lives they face with their own actions, reference point and outlook. Defending the dignity of labour and its rights and claims opens a path to set a direction for the economy to turn things around in favour of working people. The workers' movement is quite capable of taking this direction, and it must do so. It is the working class which has on its banner the defence of their rights and the rights of all and averting the danger to humanity threatened and caused by the agenda of war, destruction, austerity and paying the rich. The voices of the working class must be heard, as they establish their own line of march to take hold of what belongs to them!

Unanimous support for the Palestinian people's resistance

Downing Street protest, September 11 2024

The TUC unanimously voted for a complete arms embargo on Israel, the recognition of a Palestinian state, a ceasefire and release of hostages and Palestinian political prisoners, and the government to align its foreign policy with that of international law. Louise Regan of the NEU received a standing ovation when she called for unions to "join together and fight for justice for the Palestinian people". She said, "Palestinians need more than words, they need our actions too."

Louise Regan also criticised the move of the new Labour government to suspend only a fraction of arms sales to Israel and said, "It is obscene to continue arms sales when two senior Israeli leaders stand accused of crimes against humanity." Representatives from the Fire Brigades Union, PCS, GMB, Aslef, BFAWU and UCU also spoke in favour of the motion.

In addition, an emergency resolution was carried unanimously condemning Israel's attacks on its neighbouring countries and calling for support for the country-wide workplace days of action for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

The votes indicate that it is not incorrect to say that the workers' movement stands with Palestine and against complicity by the British government in giving the green light to Israeli-Zionism.

As Counterfire wrote: "The problem for Starmer, which clearly goes beyond issues of foreign policy, was illustrated by the contrast between the lukewarm reception he received compared to the enthusiastic standing ovation which greeted the speech from Palestine ambassador Husam Zomlot at the end of the conference."

Matt Wrack General Secretary of the FBU and President of the TUC at Congress 2024

The TUC recently published a report, "Making employment rights work", timed for their annual Congress, which was held over September 8-11 in Brighton [1].

The context of the report is the Labour Party's "New Deal", originally drawn up in agreement with Labour-affiliated unions, reflected in the Congress theme of "A New Deal for Working People", which emerged amid industrial action and a growing movement under the slogan "Enough is Enough!" in conditions of deepening disequilibrium between employer and worker. From the perspective of the Labour Party, the New Deal was to be used to bring workers on side, particularly in the run up to the election. By the time of the election, it had already been reduced to a set of policy objectives [2].

Against this background, the TUC is conscious of the necessity to defend the rights of working people and to hold the government to account, aware, as they say in their report, that "rights are only worth something if they are upheld", in other words, given a guarantee.

The TUC points to what it refers to as the Britain's "flexible labour markets" (a euphemism for working conditions where all of the flexibility is the side of the worker, who is supposed to bend over backwards for the sake of the business) and lack of enforcement of basic working rights which are causing employers to fail to honour these rights insofar as they are recognised. Last year, writes the TUC, 1.1 million UK workers missed £2 billion in paid holiday, with 6% of BME employees not receiving any holiday pay at all. In 2022, one in five workers supposedly receiving the National Living or Minimum Wage were not actually paid the correct amount, they go on to say. Further, 1.8 million workers reported not receiving a payslip, making it difficult for their pay to be subject to scrutiny. According to the TUC, the enforcement system is failing vulnerable migrant workers, with at least 130,000 victims estimated in Britain.

The TUC report sets out a five-point plan for the enforcement of workers' rights:

1. Create a properly resourced single enforcement body with a strong union voice in its governance structures
2. Recycle fines back into the enforcement system
3. Increase the number of inspectors and inspections
4. Extend the licensing scheme to new sectors
5. Build international links and create a firewall with immigration enforcement to crack down on the exploitation of migrant workers.

This last point includes the call to separate immigration enforcement and employment rights enforcement; a "firewall" should be established between these agencies, says the TUC. The significance of this is the context of the Labour Party's overt intent to continue to attack the rights of people deemed "illegal" by virtue of their migration status, taking up where the previous government left off [3]. The point of this separation is to prevent further criminalisation of migrant workers using employment rights enforcement as a smokescreen.

While limited in form and content, the report reflects the need for a new kind of public authority that upholds the rights of working people and has the power to enforce these rights in the face of the general trend towards imposition by employers of worsening conditions of work and pay. Reflecting a growing demand for an active decision-making role in such matters, the five-point plan calls for workers' involvement, albeit reduced to a role for unions in shaping strategies.

Even limited as the TUC plan is, it is clear that it is saying something quite different from the government.

Speaking at the TUC congress, Kier Starmer warned that the previous government left Britain with the infamous "financial black hole" amounting to £22bn this year [4]. While on the one hand, this means that "we must go deep into the marrow of our institutions, rewrite the rules of our economy, fix the foundations," on the other hand, "this government will not risk its mandate for economic stability, under any circumstances. And with tough decisions on the horizon - pay will inevitably be shaped by that."

This is all to say that social programmes including public sector pay will be subject to further austerity, and that the government will take the anti-social offensive further [5].

Rather, then, than standing up for the essence of the TUC's call to defend workers' rights, the Prime Minister instead called for "the politics of partnership" and "compromise". It is not "business versus worker, management versus union, public versus private," he said. "Working people want good companies to make profits," he asserted, to "attract investment and create good jobs."

"The mood is for partnership," he said. "And not just on pay, on everything. To turn around our NHS, give our children the start in life they deserve, make our public services fit for the future, unlock the potential of clean energy. A new era of investment and reform. The common cause of national renewal."

Workers should reject Starmer's "partnership" as a smokescreen for furthering the anti-social offensive. Using this phrase, his ruling faction is deliberately echoing the post-war social democratic arrangement of a tripartite alliance of the government, big business and the large unions that maintained a kind of equilibrium in the decades before the Thatcher government smashed that arrangement. It should also be noted that "investment with reform" is an echo of the Blair days of 2002 and following years. In other words, "reform", meaning restructuring to pay-the-rich, is the priority, before investment in social programmes is forthcoming. The restructuring is to be enforced by the Starmerite "National Wealth Fund". This is the significance of bringing back the former Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney as a member of the National Wealth Fund Taskforce; Michael Barber, Blair's deliverology guru, is also to be brought back as Starmer's adviser on "delivery".

But nowadays, particularly after the experience of Blair, the old illusions of the Labour Party are no longer present in abundance, particularly among younger sections of the working class. Also no longer present in any meaningful sense are the old arrangements of civil society, posing a problem for workers as to how to organise to defend their rights. The fight continues under the banner of Enough is Enough!, while the need for new decision-making forms, for democratic renewal, are on the agenda.

The workers need to have their independent programme and organise for a society based on rights and an economy directed towards meeting the needs of the people, which is the only basis of the alternative. Workers must renew and strengthen their organisations for the challenges of the present and adopt their own outlook and programme to build the workers' opposition to the continuing anti-social offensive.

Notes
1. "Making employment rights work", Tim Sharp, TUC Senior Policy Officer on trade union and employment law, September 8, 2024
https://www.tuc.org.uk/research-analysis/reports/making-employment-rights-work
2. "Condemn Labour Using its New Deal to Bring Workers On Side", Workers' Weekly, June 8, 2024
https://www.rcpbml.org.uk/wwie-24/ww24-13/ww24-13-03.htm
3. "Defend the Rights of Immigrants! Defend the Rights of All!", Workers' Weekly, August 24, 2024
https://www.rcpbml.org.uk/wwie-24/ww24-21/ww24-21-01.htm
4. "Keir Starmer speech at TUC Congress 2024", Labour List, September 2024
https://labourlist.org/2024/09/keir-starmer-tuc-congress-2024-speech-in-full
5.For an analysis of the economic programme, see:
"The Labour Government's Economic Programme", Workers' Weekly, August 11, 2024
https://www.rcpbml.org.uk/wwie-24/ww24-19/ww24-19-03.htm

Dr Husam Said Zomlot, Palestine's Ambassador to Britain

On September 11, the final day of the TUC Congress, delegates gathered to hear from Dr Husam Said Zomlot, the Palestine ambassador to Britain, who gave the most inspiring speech to Congress on the rights of the state of Palestine, the Palestinians' heroic struggle and their right to be [1]. This followed the ambassador's address to the General Council in May. Firstly, the Palestinian ambassador, who had listened to the debate on Palestine just before he spoke, warmly praised the bedrock of solidarity of the trade union movement and the British people with the Palestinian people. He thanked them "for all that you have been doing over the months and years in taking to the streets every week in every city and in every town".

The ambassador pointed out that seventy nine years ago the world united in shock and horror and vowed never again would we allow such barbarity to be repeated with the horrors of the Second World War. Never again would we allow the persecution and attempted erasure of an entire people merely because of who they are. The entire rules-based order was supposed to make war obsolete and to forever ban evil atrocities like mass murder, ethnic cleansing and genocide. And yet here we are.

Next month, the ambassador said, it will be a year of mass murder, mass destruction and mass displacement in Gaza. During this year an entire eco-system of genocide has been established. It is not, he said, limited to just causing mass murder and damage. It is very deliberately designed to render life in Gaza unliveable, to attempt to break the spirit of the Palestinian people, to encourage yet again another mass expulsion.

Dr Zomlot continued, "We know, you all know, that Israel is disrupting the delivery of food, of water, of humanitarian aid. At the Egyptian border there are enough trucks that will feed Gaza for months to come, but which are stuck there. Israel is also dramatically obstructing what can come in not only in terms of these basic materials but also including medicine and hygienic materials."

"I will give you one example," he said, "which comes for a UK medical organisation operating in Gaza. They told us that Israel is only allowing in one type of antibiotic, even though we all know that bacteria grow resistant. This is deliberate killing by other means. That is why some British medical magazines like the Lancet have estimated that the number of people who have been killed so far is not 40-42,000, but is in fact 186,000. Taking this into consideration, those were murders of those who did not get treatment for their cancer, or they did not get kidney dialysis on time. And we are talking about thousands upon thousands."

Ambassador Husam Zomlot explained that 70% of Gazan homes have been destroyed, 90% of Gaza's hospitals destroyed, 80% of schools have been targeted and 100% of universities decimated. This is deliberate, he said.

Dr Zomlot underlined that for 76 years Israel has been allowed to act with impunity by a US that seized Palestine with impunity. This, he said, is how the lie of "a land without a people" came about and why they say that the Palestinian people have to be erased and why we are witnessing a genocide. But, he declared, despite the genocide, despite all the horrors, the Palestinians are too rooted like the roots of the ancient olive trees. "We are too rooted to be removed from our land," he said. "We are too resilient to be broken. And, yes, we have done it before as they could not erase us in 1948. They could not crush us in 1967. They did not wipe us out in Lebanon in 1982. And despite the horrors in Gaza they will not erase us from Gaza and we will arise again and rebuild Gaza." He continued, "We will remain in Gaza, we will remain in Jenin, we will remain in Jerusalem and in all the Palestinian lands and we will remain as refugees in exile holding onto our right to go back to our homes and farms."

Concluding his speech, the ambassador said that recognition of the state of Palestine is not a gift, it is not a favour, it is not a reward, it is not a punishment. It is a right that has been long overdue! "We must be united in saying no to impunity. No to divine entitlement! No to racial discrimination! No to selective implementation of rules! Enough is Enough! We say yes to an immediate and permanent ceasefire. Yes to accountability! All those war criminals must be accountable!" Husam Zomlot pointed out that it is unbelievable that we still have to make a case on the streets together to oppose those who are selling arms to Israel to commit genocide. "Palestine," he said, "is about all of us. Palestine's defeat is your defeat. Any right we give up is giving up on your rights. Our liberation is also your liberation. Our values are your values. Our future is shared. We will enjoy a lasting peace in a free, free Palestine!"

Delegates in turn had risen to the occasion in passionately debating and passing a motion Palestine supported by three of the largest unions in Britain - the NEU, Unison and Unite [2] - and backed by all unions present, to stand with the Palestinian people against the Israeli genocide in Gaza and against the British government's continued arming of Israel and their complicity in this Israeli genocide. A further emergency motion, supported by the UCU and RMT, was passed by Congress: Stop the escalation of war in the Middle East [3]. The motion condemned the bombing of Lebanon, carried out with the support of Britain, and condemned the attack on the territory of Iran. It supported a "call for a UK-wide workplace day of action in support of an immediate ceasefire".

Notes
1. TUC YouTube record of September 11, the final day's debate, including the speech of Dr Husam Zomlot. His speech follows the debate on the Palestine resolution C17 at 2h11m:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30OKSXlMQkU&list=PLpWEQxwRfgp3A5-IjUEffWJiJCtUaTJyV&index=1
2. TUC Congress 2024 Motion C17 - Moved by the NEU, Seconded by Unison, Supported by Unite
https://congress.tuc.org.uk/c17-palestine/#sthash.fTFagpWs.dpbs
3. TUC Congress 2024 Motion E3 - Stop the escalation of war in the Middle East
https://congress.tuc.org.uk/e3-stop-the-escalation-of-war-in-the-middle-east/#sthash.siXDjm8Q.dpb

This year's TUC Congress saw the passing of a motion opposing the escalation of war in Lebanon, which has since been even further escalated by Israel. The motion was tabled by the University and College Union (UCU). The emergency motion, which was also supported by the RMT, reflects a growing opposition in the trade union movement to Israel's assault on both Palestine and neighbouring countries, in particular Lebanon and Iran.

Israeli warplanes and missiles continually assault Syria. The death toll from Israeli attacks on the Lebanon grows week by week. The Zionist regime attacks with increasing aggression towards Iran.

In particular, the conflict with Hezbollah opens up the possibility of a new war in the Lebanon prosecuted by Israeli forces.

The emergency motion noted that the "Israeli bombing of Lebanon-with the support of Britain-is a significant and qualitative escalation".

While at least 40,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023, the motion further noted, "Israel's escalation threatens a much wider war in the Middle East that will lead to far greater death, destruction and instability in the region."

In response, the emergency motion committed the TUC:

1. To condemn the bombing of Lebanon and attacks on Iranian territory;
2. To oppose any attempts to escalate this war and demand a ceasefire now;
3. To support the call for a UK-wide workplace day of action in support of an immediate ceasefire.

The TUC Congress in Brighton also saw a large and enthusiastic meeting of Stop the War and a growing call to oppose policies committed to increasing arms manufacture.

The emergency motion E3 Stop the escalation of war in the Middle East - TUC Congress Motions can be found here: https://congress.tuc.org.uk/e3-stop-the-escalation-of-war-in-the-middle-east/#sthash.HlFhvEou.dpbs

Beirut, first responders rush to aid of victims of Zionist terror, September 17, 2024

Lebanese security forces said the explosion on September 17 of pagers used by Hezbollah members in Lebanon was the largest cyber security breach that Hezbollah has been exposed to in years. Media reports indicate that at least eleven people were killed and about 4,000 were wounded, 400 of whom are in critical condition. According to the reports, those targeted were primarily Hezbollah personnel, although many civilians and several children were among the killed and wounded. The official Lebanese National News Agency indicated that the pagers exploded simultaneously in the southern suburbs of Beirut, in various towns in the Marjeyoun district in southern Lebanon, as well as in the Hermel area in the Bekaa in eastern Lebanon.

The Resistance Movements condemned the cyber attack as Israeli terrorism against an entire nation. "This is not a security targeting of one, two, or three people. This is a targeting of an entire nation," senior Hezbollah official Hussein Khalil said. Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed newspaper quoted a source in Hezbollah as saying, "What happened was a dangerous breach, and it is being investigated."

"This terrorist act is part of the Zionist enemy's larger aggression on the region," Hamas said. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad said: "The treacherous operation carried out by the Zionist entity's devices through the explosion of dual-use communication equipment is a documented war crime. It inflicted severe damage on a large number of innocent civilians inside their homes with premeditated malice." The statement issued by Palestinian Islamic Jihad added, "Although the enemy's resort to this option is intended within the framework of psychological and intellectual warfare, it indicates the level of frustration and the narrow options they now have after the blows they have received from multiple fronts supporting the Palestinian people."

The Palestinian Mujahideen Movement said, "We strongly condemn the criminal and terrorist blasts that targeted Lebanese communication networks, resulting in the martyrdom of many and the injury of hundreds of our brothers and sisters in Lebanon." It added, "The enemy will not succeed in their attempts through their cowardly and treacherous crimes to break the will of resistance in our nation or deter the fighters in Hezbollah and Lebanon from continuing their support for the Gaza Strip."

Yemen's Ansarullah spokesman Mohammed Abdul Salam said: "We condemn the Israeli security attack on Lebanon, which targeted many civilians, which is a flagrant crime and a violation of Lebanese sovereignty." Ansarullah's spokesman added, "We are certain that Lebanon is capable of facing all challenges and has a resistance capable of deterring the Zionist enemy and making it pay a heavy cost for any escalation it may undertake against Lebanon."

Israeli government officials instructed to speak to the matter on Israel's Channel 12 cited the head of Knesset stating: "We made great efforts to find a non-military solution in the north and we reached a point where we said enough is enough."

The reference to a "military solution" versus a "non-military solution" relates to the visit of US special envoy Amos Hochstein to Israel the previous day, September 16. According to the Jerusalem Post, the visit was an effort "to secure a diplomatic resolution to the constrained IDF[Israel Defence Forces]-Hezbollah war, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant appeared to pivot toward a military solution." The Washington Post reported that State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller, speaking to reporters on September 17, said that "the US was not involved in it [the pager attack]. The US was not aware of this incident in advance." He added, "We would urge Iran not to take advantage of any incident, any instability to further increase tensions in the region." He did not condemn the attack, nor did he hold Israel responsible for it.

Editor's Note

A second attack involving exploding handheld radios has now killed at least 20 people and injured another 450. In addition, Israel bombed southern Lebanon on September 19 and claimed that it had thwarted an Iran-backed assassination plot, a day after the explosions of the handheld radios, Reuters has reported. Israel is doing everything in its power to provoke the Resistance forces into responding according to Israel's game plan. However, the Resistance forces will keep their aim of ending the genocide of the people in Gaza and ending the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine uppermost in mind. The peoples of the world stand as one with the Palestinian people as well as with the peoples of Lebanon and other countries Israel is targeting and all the Resistance forces.

(TML In the News, September 18, 2024)

Just prior to the opening of the TUC Congress, a very large anti-war demonstration took place on September 7 in central London, organised by Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and supported by Stop the War in response to continued Israeli-Zionist aggression against the Palestinians who are undergoing genocide and have become virtual prisoners of the Zionist entity. The demonstration began from Pall Mall around 12:00 noon and marched to the Israeli Embassy.

A number of speakers from the anti-war movement, Palestinian activists and different spokespersons of political groups took the platform in support of Palestine, against the genocide, Israeli war crimes, and Britain's support for Israel both militarily and politically. In particular, the Labour leader Keir Starmer was condemned for supporting the bombing of Palestine and refusing a ceasefire.

Speakers pointed out that the aggression is taking place with the full support of US imperialism and its European allies. Britain is also playing a leading role by supplying weapons to Israel under the guise of Israeli "self-defence".

The rally was concluded around 4.30 pm with the call to continue the demonstrations until Palestine is free and peace restored!

The next demonstration is taking place in Liverpool today, September 21, to the Labour Party conference, with the slogan: End the Genocide in Gaza - Stop Arming Israel.

A major national demonstration takes place on Saturday, October 5, in London, gathering at 12 noon in Russell Square and marching to Whitehall. The slogan is: One Year On - End the Genocide in Gaza - Stop Arming Israel.

The Isle of Wight Council plans to close six primary schools across the island next year, including Arreton, Brading, Cowes, Godshill, Oakfield, and Wroxhall.

The closures will force affected children to attend alternative schools by July next year, in some cases long distances from their homes.

Isle of Wight parents and children have begun organising themselves, meeting and discussing the situation, and staging protests outside affected schools. "Scores" of people were reported to have gathered outside Brading Primary School on September 12 in one such demonstration [1].

Diane Barker, Governor of Godshill Primary School, expressed concerns about the potential loss of primary education provision in the rural Island. She noted that pupil roll is increasing, with 177 children enrolled, including preschool provision, in an open letter to the council's cabinet. "We feel strongly that at least one school should serve our rural communities," she wrote [2].

Despite the opposition, the council at its cabinet meeting on September 12 decided to begin a public consultation on the plans eight days later. That is despite hearing an extended hour-long session of public questions raising a variety of concerns before taking its decision.

Suzie Ellis, councillor for Central Rural, pointed out that "this decision could leave the rural centre of the Island, and some 400 children, entirely without primary provision," reports On the Wight.

Michael Lilley, councillor for Ryde Appley and Elmfield, told the same publication: "I am deeply disappointed that a school in the poorest area of Ryde, Oakfield and parts of Elmfield, with children and families living in the reality of low incomes, food poverty and a cost-of-living crisis are now faced with the insecurity that the school which really cares is threatened with closure." [3]

The island has long suffered some of the worst effects of the generalised crisis in education and other social programmes. The school system on the Isle of Wight, in the Council's own words, "has consistently underperformed compared to national trends," adding that the island "currently ranks in the bottom 10% for key education performance indicators." [4]

Taking this as a truism to prepare the way for closures, the Council argues that the main block to finding solutions is that there are too many schools on the island, leading to a so-called "surplus" of places; there are not enough children. Closing schools is therefore key to unlocking the big changes that will create a "world class" system on the island.

As usual, first to come under attack by the authorities as to blame as the cause of problems are the people, who are allegedly simultaneously too many, ageing, under-productive, and so on. The people are a problem of every kind of quantity and quality; in this case, we are told that people are narrow-minded, and there are too few children.

People need to see the "bigger picture", says Cabinet member for education Jonathan Bacon. School funding is allocated per child, making the "surplus" unviable.

"The problem with surplus places in our schools is leading to our inability to address educational standards on the island," he claimed. "Too few pupils spread across too many schools means all the schools end up being underfunded and governors and head teachers concentrate on day-to-day financial survival instead working to address standards," he added [5].

Falling numbers of children on the Isle of Wight certainly poses problems for the island, but what problems will closing schools solve?

The conception that there is a "surplus" of classroom places is fundamentally at odds with right to education. Surplus defined by what measure? As the people affected are saying: what is wrong with smaller class sizes!

These are well-established schools deeply rooted in their local communities. To close them is an attack on the very fabric of the society of which they are part. As one put it, the town of Brading "is having the heart ripped out of it" [1].

Dressed up with the pretext of improving standards (meaning: rise up the league tables), the closures are cuts, plain and simple. Smaller schools are not "viable". Schools, of whatever size, add massive value by educating the young, value that is not paid for by those who employ and profit from those educated in the school system. Closure is destruction of the productive forces: both destruction of the schools themselves and destructive to the next generation.

Closures are not solutions, but that is not their point. The closures are part of the anti-social offensive, the restructuring of all the arrangements of the state, its institutions and social programmes it provides, being given new emphasis with Labour's "investment with reform". This is a particularly stark example of what this really means, a shock and awe imposition of control and destruction of what cannot be controlled. The aim is academisation and centralisation.

Those pushing this plan see small local schools will small class sizes as liabilities but does nothing to turn them into assets. Instead they dispose of them. These schools could be a model of how things should be done, and the island could truly lead the way.

Not only will they not solve either the crisis in the education or in the demographic makeup of the island, but also the closures will surely exacerbate these problems as families continue to move away and relations are broken down. Local schools for the people were an achievement on the high road of civilisation. Now the intent is to turn back the clock to a time when education did not exist as a right of all and schools were in short supply. Such sweeping closures are a thoroughly backward step and must not be allowed to pass.

Notes
1. "Isle of Wight parents protest over plans to close Brading Primary", Isle of Wight County Press, September 12, 2024
https://www.countypress.co.uk/news/24579441.isle-wight-parents-protest-plans-close-brading-primary/
2. "Isle of Wight Council urged to rethink school closure plans", Isle of Wight County Press, September 12, 2024
https://www.countypress.co.uk/news/24581553.isle-wight-council-urged-rethink-school-closure-plans/
3. "Cabinet members vote to go ahead with the public consultation on school closures", Sally Perry, On the Wight, September
https://onthewight.com/cabinet-members-vote-to-go-ahead-with-the-public-consultation-on-school-closures/
4. "Ambitious plans for world-class education for Island youngsters", Isle of Wight Council, July 10, 2024
https://www.iow.gov.uk/news/ambitious-plans-for-world-class-education-for-island-youngsters/
5. "Isle of Wight school closures protest held at council meeting", Emily Hudson, BBC News, September 13, 2024
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgxg185y3jo