Press Office of James McLaughlin MP

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Kayla Gray
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Press Office of James McLaughlin MP

Post by Kayla Gray »

Press Office of James McLaughlin, Member of Parliament for Wirral South

For all media inquiries, contact my Press Secretary Tommy Dawson
Kayla Gray MP
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Re: Press Office of James McLaughlin MP

Post by Kayla Gray »

James McLaughlin makes endorsement for leader of the Labour Party

Westminster: James McLaughlin, Shadow Minister for Schools, has announced who he is backing for the next Labour Party leadership

After careful and thoughtful consideration and conversation with candidates, James McLaughlin has come to the decision to endorse Hilda Harrington for the Labour Party Leadership.

Firstly, McLaughlin paid tribute to Jeremy Corbyn as a leader who “has shown great integrity over the last four years” and has been a “credit to our party and our movement”. The Shadow Cabinet Minister stated “I have worked closely with Jeremy even before my time in parliament and I’ve seen first hand how dedicated he is to doing the right thing to build a fairer and more decent society” before going on to say “[Jeremy] has done so much to bring our movement forward and has brought our party back to it’s roots''.

Following this, the Wirral South MP and former advisor to the outgoing leader declared his support for the Hilda Harrington campaign, saying “I have engaged in conversation with candidates about their vision for the future and, while I believe there are positives about all campaigns, I feel that the Hilda Harrington campaign is the best chance for Labour to maintain our radical vision for change in the post-Corbyn era and empower our members with mandatory reselection”. He also stated that “my endorsement does not mean that I will not hold the leadership to account if I do disagree with them” before following up with “whoever of these capable candidates is chosen by our members will have my loyalty as I respect the decision of the members in who they elect to the leadership, even if we do have disagreements which will hopefully be discussed in a calm manner for a mutual solution”.

Additionally, James McLaughlin stated how he believed that the candidates have put forward some "fantastic proposals" and implored the winner of the contest to "work with their fellow candidates" to "hold this cruel and callous conservative government accountable and take Labour into government at the next election".

Finally, the left wing MP said “tackling antisemitism must be at the top of the new leader’s priorities”.
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Re: Press Office of James McLaughlin MP

Post by Kayla Gray »

Westminster: Labour MP James McLaughlin talks about flags and teaching the history of Britain in schools

Socialist Labour MP for Wirral South and former Shadow Schools Minister, James McLaughlin, today weighed in on the ongoing debate over flags and talked about educating children about Britain’s history and role in the world over time.

McLaughlin said:
“The government has recently brought forward proposals for our children's schools in order to reinvigorate a sense of 'national character, pride, and confidence', in the words of the Prime Minister, but what this really is, is in fact an empty gesture of patriotism. We could have been debating important issues including the increasing rate of child poverty in Britain, but instead that is what the government brought to the house.

But we can use this debate now to single out the importance of teaching future generations about the history of Britain, specifically the brutal colonialism and empire which our worldwide influence is based upon. Historical injustices and disgusting levels of brutality, such as the slave trade, should not just be mentioned during black history month, but should be a vital part of a progressive education for our children. We must commit to teaching kids about the impacts of British colonialism across the world as part of a balanced and fair education, so that the crimes of the empire are never repeated and colonialism can be pointed out and criticised as it continues across the world.”

This is particularly significant with awareness spiking again about the Israeli government’s actions in the Palestinian territories, which have been seen by many as modern day colonialism, following the governments “reckless” decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel which “puts a potential peace process and two state solution at risk”.
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Re: Press Office of James McLaughlin MP

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Glasgow: James McLaughlin speaks at a Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament rally

“Thank You for attending this event today. It is integral that our movement stands in complete and unequivocal opposition to the maintenance of nuclear weapons. They do not bring us peace, they do not bring us security, they do not bring us safety.

I have been an opponent of maintenance of nuclear weapons for all of my political life, I have backed CND and stood in opposition and marched against nuclear weapons, because the reality is that nuclear weapons are not something which protect the people of Britain, they are something which costs the taxpayer billions for a weapons that will never be used, and those who would use it are unfit to be put in a position of power because what a nuclear weapon would cause is mass death and destruction among a civilian population.

But this government has remained committed to forking out billions on a weapon which does not keep us safe, and just puts the world in more danger. When the renewal was voted on in 2016, the total cost was calculated to be in the region of £205 Billion, before taking into account that the Ministry of Defence has a tendency to go way over budget. That is £205 Billion taken away from our National Health Service. That is £205 Billion taken away from Education in Britain. That is £205 Billion not being put towards police on our streets to actually keep our communities safer from the growing threats of crime. That is £205 Billion not going towards tackling the existential threat of climate change. That is £205 Billion not being invested in Britain’s future.

Many in Labour have a proud history in standing with CND in opposition to the maintenance of these weapons which would only cause a genocide if ever unleashed on a civilian population. That is what these weapons are, genocidal. Anyone who says they are willing to push that button and unleash nuclear weapons on anyone on Earth is either lying, or willing to commit one of the greatest atrocities possible, a nuclear holocaust. Someone who maintains either of those characteristics is simply not fit to govern this country.

But that proud history is not just one of my party, Scotland also maintains a proud tradition of opposing nuclear weapons, even when forced by the UK government to store nuclear submarines in HMNB Clyde. Despite this, Scotland has got a history of standing up to Westminster and demanding change, not just being forced to just accept what they are given. It is time for Scotland to once again stand up and say ‘No, absolutely no to Nuclear Weapons’.

Much like the imperialistic NATO, nuclear weapons have been out of date since the end of the Cold War at the latest. We made commitments in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to working towards nuclear disarmament, but successive governments, both red and blue, have ignored that responsibility to maintain their genocidal playthings. That is why I am calling on the Leader of the Opposition now to commit to opposing nuclear weapons and scrapping them under the next Labour government. Unfortunately, we can expect no progress from this government, but we must demand progress from the Labour Party as our party’s aim is to achieve radical change to improve our society for the many, and in order to do that, our party must be willing to offer that radical change.

I will end now with a simple message, we want a world of peace. We want a world of justice, where no one is homeless or starving. We want to tackle the great issues of poverty both in Britain and globally, and a step forward to achieving that better world would be to end the maintenance of Trident, scrap our nuclear weapons and instead, put that money towards something to really help the people of Britain as well as working collaboratively with other countries to achieve multilateral disarmament

Solidarity!”
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Re: Press Office of James McLaughlin MP

Post by Kayla Gray »

James McLaughlin speaking in Glasgow

Thank you friends and comrades,

Our party has long been the greatest vehicle for social change in Britain since it was founded by the daring Trade Unionists in the early 20th century, they dared to dream of a fairer Britain, dream of a Britain that works for the many, not just the privileged few in our society. That is what I want to deliver for this country. I want to deliver real change within our society, to tackle the grave issues of poverty and inequality that have plagued Britain. Overall, I want to deliver a radical alternative to the last decade of Tory rule, and bring about a government that works for the people of Britain.

What this platform sets out is a series of policies which would be some of those at the heart of a future Labour manifesto under my leadership. A manifesto to lead us into government and radically transform our society. I want to be the leader of our party because I believe that, only with this radical vision, can we not only enter Downing Street, but also deliver what this country needs after years of cruel and callous Conservative governance.

To revolutionise our society we must be ambitious, we must be radical, on all fronts. Radical change must be delivered for our economy, through massive investments to revitalise our economy which has suffered from the decade of Tory austerity. We must be radical on education by establishing a National Education Service as a real, fair, solution to the issues facing education in Britain. We must be ready to stand up for workers through an ambitious set of measures to embolden workers and the Trade Union who look to protect them. We must be radical on health and social care. We must be radical on housing. We must be radical in tackling the climate emergency. We must be radical on foreign policy. We must be radical.

We need real change in our country, we need it urgently, and the way to deliver it is through radical policies. But they are also part of the popular message that meant Labour was banging on the gates of Downing Street in 2017 with the largest increase in our vote share since Attlee’s radical vision led him to a landslide in 1945. Radical policies are not just what the country needs, but they are what large swathes of the country want, to rebuild our country and have a new Britain following our exit from the European Union.

Our party is one that belongs to it’s grassroots. The members are those who our party follow, the members are those who truly lead our party because, at the end of the day, you are the ones in charge of decision making. But I firmly believe that we must put more power in the hands of our grassroots. So, in addition to the policy platform I have set out here, I will be supporting the campaign for mandatory reselection of Labour parliamentary candidates at future general elections. You, our members, should have the power to control our party.

And to those who support our party but are not members, make sure you join our party so you can have your voice heard in our future. So you can ensure that our party continues to represent you and stand up for what you believe in.

It is time for real change, and I hope many of you will join me in my campaign to lead our party, to ensure a radical alternative for Britain and a government for the many, not the few.

(Platform Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eRQ ... sp=sharing)
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Re: Press Office of James McLaughlin MP

Post by Kayla Gray »

James McLaughlin speaking in Birmingham

Thank you comrades for turning out today,

This campaign is about not me, but encompassing the socialist movement in order to deliver a radical alternative to the last decade of Conservative governance, change to our economy, our foreign policy, our health service, our education system. Real change to every aspect of our society, a society that has been decimated over the last decade. What I want to do is uplift our communities, to rebuild our country. And the way we start that is by a new plan for the economy. One the total opposite of anything the Conservatives have offered. With real investment for real change.

The last decade of Tory austerity has led to an estimated 120,000 avoidable deaths caused by austerity. They are not just a figure. They are 120,000 very real people with loved ones and lives as intricate and complex as our own. 120,000 sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, many of them will have had kids of their own, but lost their lives as a consequence of the policies implemented by a Conservative government in Westminster, because those Tory ministers do not care what happens in Smethwick or West Bromwich, they only care about their wealthy mates and their own bank balance.

What this country needs is something different, something ambitious, something radical and transformative. That is my vision for this country. We won’t measure our economic success based upon GDP or the number of billionaires. We will base our economic success off of the number of homeless people, the number of children living in poverty and the ability of everyday Britons to lead richer lives with higher living standards and more enjoyment and fulfilment. Because this is an economic strategy not for the super-rich elite. This is one for the factory worker in Walsall and the shopkeeper in Wolverhampton. This is an economic strategy for the many, not the few.

Any Labour government I lead will put an end, once and for all, to austerity. The only way to ensure stability and sustainability for our economy is to ensure real investment to create jobs, to protect jobs, to increase productivity and to grow our economy in a way that benefits everyone. In the last decade we have seen an explosion of low paid, insecure work. Our investment will create the high paying, secure jobs of the future, and set the foundations for a real economic recovery after a decade of sluggish growth under austerity.

We must also ensure fairer taxation across Britain. While cutting our budgets, the Conservative government also cut taxes on the most well off in our society, so those bearing the brunt of the damage that austerity did were not the wealthy, but the impoverished. David Cameron tried to say “we are all in it together”. And to be fair we might have all been on the same boat. But the difference is while we were working hard, he was enjoying the hospitality in the company of his wealthy donor mates, and under Tory rule this boat is starting to resemble the Titanic. What I want to do is raise taxes on the wealthiest within our society so they pay their fair share, while ensuring no income tax rises to low or medium income earners. We must tackle the scourge of tax avoidance and tax evasion in order to ensure that everyone in our society pays their fair share.

Infrastructure is the backbone of our economy, and one of the core things that our economic fight back will be based upon is new and improved infrastructure, made through the investment that our ambitious future government will invest in. Under the current Conservative government, our infrastructure has been neglected and underinvested in. But I and my campaign understand the vital importance of infrastructure investment in order to achieve sustainable, long-term growth for our economy. Additionally, this investment will be targeted into the areas most left behind by austerity in order to level up our economy and this country. If you are not someone working in the financial sector in London or the South East then this government does not care about you, but any future government I lead will ensure fairness with our investment to rebuild Britain.

Finally, we must also widen the ownership of our economy. In the last General Election campaign, promises of nationalisation proved extremely popular to the electorate, and were some of the most popular policies in the popular message that helped us achieve the largest increase in our vote share since 1945. Under this government, ownership belongs to the wealthy few. Under the government that I want to build, I want the ownership of our economy to belong to all of us, and all of us to truly benefit from our collective endeavour. That is why my government will look to bring Rail, Mail and utilities into public ownership over the course of our time in government. On top of this, the government I lead will use Inclusive Ownership Funds to give workers a 15% share of the companies they work for, so that the workers get the benefits of their labour.

This is the economy I want to build. Ending austerity. Real investment. More jobs with higher pay. Fairer taxation. Widened ownership of our economy. All of this to fight back against the damage to our country that the era of austerity has done. If this is the future you want to see and the economy that you want to build, then I ask you to join our campaign, which relies even more so on our grassroots, the true leaders of our movement. I want to be your representative, to bring about a party with a radical alternative to the Conservative party. So, if this is the country you want to see, back James McLaughlin for leader of our party, the Labour party. Thank you!
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Re: Press Office of James McLaughlin MP

Post by Kayla Gray »

James McLaughlin speaking in Batley

Following our exit from the European Union, Britain is at a crossroads in many different ways. But, one of the greatest and most important is our foreign policy. After leaving the European Union, we are now faced with a new set of challenges, but also a new set of opportunities. We can begin to rebuild our reputation on the international stage after years of humiliation and becoming a laughing stock at times with the government’s handling of Brexit since 2016.

What I want to do is to build a new post-Brexit internationalism and redefine our role on the international stage. Our world has been rapidly changing for decades, and we must adapt alongside it. Many, on all sides of parliament, still stand for the old way of doing things on foreign policy, but what I want to deliver, and what we need to deliver, is a new kind of foreign policy, one that leaves behind the old way of doing things. We have to ditch the bullets, bombs, conflict and catastrophe of past governments for a radically different foreign policy.

As I have previously set out, there are four pillars that I would put at the heart of the future foreign policy that I pursue as leader of Labour and, eventually, Prime Minister. These four pillars are at the core of our foreign policy because they rectify the mistakes of the past, the major issues with the foreign policy that Britain has pursued under previous governments in recent decades. These pillars would radically change our foreign policy and the way we do things on the international stage, in order to build a foreign policy fit for the 21st century, not dated back in the era of the cold war.

The first pillar of the future foreign policy I wish to pursue is preserving and ensuring peace. That is something that previous governments have failed to do, and unfortunately did not do enough in trying to achieve. A prime example of this comes from the Chilcot Report in which it was identified that the invasion of Iraq was not a matter of last resort, but was instead an act of military aggression by the British government of the time and the Bush administration, even when the majority of British public opinion at the time was against the invasion. Not enough was done to ensure peace because, unfortunately, the priority of the government at the time was not to ensure peace, but to follow the United States into a war which we should not have fought and cost the lives of many brave service personnel and innocent Iraqi civilians.

The second pillar of our future foreign policy is diplomacy, which is the method that we must use to full effect to ensure peaceful resolutions to conflicts across the globe. It is unfortunate that the example of Iraq again comes up when making the point of why this is a vital component of a future foreign policy. As stated by Sir John Chilcot, "The UK chose to join the invasion of Iraq before peaceful options for disarmament had been exhausted". The diplomatic options must always be fully exhausted before we even consider entering a conflict on the scale of that in Iraq, and the Labour party I lead would never support such action in that circumstance.

The third pillar will be human rights. Respecting and standing up for human rights is a vital component for rebuilding our standing on the international stage. We must always stand up for human rights across the globe and be prepared to condemn anyone who commits violations of human rights, even if they are a traditional ally of ours. Human rights are fundamental to everything we do as a country when it comes to foreign policy, and our party must always be the party of human rights, because the Conservative Party simply cannot be trusted to.

The fourth pillar of our future foreign policy is international law. The unfortunate example of Iraq appears again here when violations of international law by a British government are being discussed. Despite the UN Security Council clearly not supporting the invasion, the UK government of the time and the Bush administration continued with their planned invasion. The decision has long been recognised as illegal by the vast majority of international legal opinion and it shows how this catastrophic conflict could have been avoided. These pillars that I look to put in place at the heart of our future foreign policy will be a safeguard against something like Iraq happening again, which cost the lives of many for reasons found to be untrue and widely rejected by the majority of the international community, alongside the majority of the British public.

It is time for a new foreign policy, it is time for a better foreign policy. For too long Britain has, on the international stage, been reckless. The foreign policy that I pursue, as laid out here, will be calm and considered while still taking the necessary action against those who violate international law and human rights. I urge all members and registered supporters to back our campaign so we can achieve a new foreign policy based upon peace, diplomacy, human rights and international law rather than the bullets, bombs, conflict and catastrophe of the past.
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Re: Press Office of James McLaughlin MP

Post by Kayla Gray »

James McLaughlin addressing the TUC

Thank you friends and comrades,

Firstly, I am greatly appreciative of the invitation to come to speak to the Trade Union Congress as part of the ongoing leadership election, it is an honour and a privilege. The Trade Union movement is an integral part of our party’s history and our party’s future, as well as our country’s future. Trade Unions are the reason for many of the rights our workers have today, and I believe that the Trade Union movement will only grow in strength as time goes by.

During this leadership election, what I have looked to do is set out a series of bold policies to provide a radical alternative to the Conservative party. I have done this because, after a decade of cruel and callous Conservative governance, we need real, radical change to how our country is run. We need radical change to our economy. Radical change to our Trade Union law. Radical change to education and healthcare. Radical change that puts working class Britons first.

It was the radical policies put forward in 2017 that proved hugely popular, resonating with the electorate. That is how we won the largest increase in our party’s vote share since the radical Attlee government of 1945. We put forward bold and ambitious policies to deliver real change, just like we were originally founded to do by those brave, visionary Trade Unionists who established the Labour Party in the early 20th century, creating the party we know today to be the greatest vehicle for positive change for the many.

In my platform I set out a wide range of ambitious policies to deliver the real change that our country needs, to revolutionise our economy, to build a new National Education Service which includes the lifelong entitlement to achieve new vocational qualifications at any point in life, to improve the rights of workers in the workplace, to support those who cannot work and support pensioners, to build new and better houses, to deliver more rights for renters, to save our National Health Service and to tackle the existential threat of climate change. A radical alternative to the Conservative vision for Britain.

Because the problems we face require radical solutions, that is the only way to take on many of the grave issues we face as a society, those of mass inequality and growing poverty, of homelessness and the climate crisis. I put forward this unashamedly and unapologetically socialist platform because our society faces radical problems, our solutions must be equally as radical or not enough will be done to tackle these issues and the next Labour government, without proposing radical solutions beyond the slogans, would fail.

What Labour needs is to offer radical policies, but it also needs to make sure the electorate knows what it stands for. At the start of the ‘Every Community Counts’ campaign, there was a message put out there that Labour would deliver real change. However, as time went by and policies stopped being unveiled, it became less like a message put out that we understand you, and more of a soundbite and a twitter hashtag. What we need is more than just slogans, we need real change and that is why I put out the detailed and radical platform that I did, detailing my aims for government and some of the policies I feel we need to achieve those aims of real change.

During the 2017 General Election campaign, the star of the show was our manifesto. A radical policy program to bring forward a Britain that worked for the many. But the unsung heroes of that campaign were the grassroots campaigners who put in the hard yards on the ground day after day, winning people over and selling our popular message in their communities, winning us seats. The grassroots of our party, our people power, is our greatest strength. What we need to ensure is that we harness that people power and use it to make sure we go that bit further in the next election and ensure we achieve a Labour government, but we must ensure that we empower the grassroots of our party who often can save the jobs of Labour parliamentarians. That is why I believe that our party should incorporate mandatory reselection for all Labour parliamentary candidates so that our grassroots campaigners who do so much for us and our movement get to decide on who our party’s candidate will be for their constituency.

Our party, just a few years ago, stood deeply divided, but the great success of Emily Greenwood’s leadership is that she rebuilt unity in the Labour Party. Some may see me as just some left wing backbencher with no shot at winning, and they may think that I am not serious about preserving our party’s unity because of it. Let me be clear, I am serious about winning the leadership, I am serious about keeping the party united and I am serious about achieving a radical Labour government for the many. I understand that I will have to reach across the party and our movement in order to put together a team ready to enter government with a radical manifesto that we can all support.

Friends, comrades, what our society needs is real change, what I want to deliver is real change. When Labour wins the next election, whether it's called next week or next year, we must roll back the years of austerity and the misery it brought, we will empower the many after decades of deindustrialization and decay, we will be a proud government for working Britons that will deliver an equal and just Britain. We have a profound opportunity and I promise I will not squander it with meek, focus grouped lines. We will be authentic and put forward a programme that will shift wealth and power to working people, with policies that inspire and speak to the needs of working people. I hope you will support my bid to become leader of our party, to bolster our grassroots and build a united party with a radical vision for the future. For the many, not the few.

Thank you!
Kayla Gray MP
Labour Member of Parliament for Holborn & St Pancras (2015-)
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