The Sidelining of Young Labour
Labour’s ongoing marginalisation of YL is a revelatory shift in focus and direction for the party
The latest grandiose plans to alienate the left-wing activist base under Keir Starmer’s Labour is perilous. The leadership are now aiming to de-platform young Labour members that are a crucial voting bloc for the party. The incessant purging of anyone that affiliates with the Labour left is a nefarious assault on party democracy. Next stop: Young Labour.
Young Labour has been an influential pressure group of the Labour party since 1993, when the foundations of a youth wing was decided at that year’s conference. It has aligned with progressivism more than its parliamentary counterparts, with now-MP and Corbynista Sam Tarry being its former elected chair between 2009 and 2011. YL has been pivotal in galvanising young members and overseeing the party’s biggest surge in youth membership for decades. Committed to socialist causes and energised by Jeremy Corbyn’s former leadership, the wing is now a thorn in the side of its centrist frenemies.
Labour’s ongoing marginalisation of YL is a revelatory shift in focus and direction for the party. Socialist and current elected chair, Jess Barnard, accused the party general secretary of disavowing YL’s presence at the upcoming conference and for alleging the group did not have capacity for its own one online. Barnard also criticised the silencing of keynote speakers, from Corbyn to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, causing a rift between YL and the party machine.
To make matters worse, Labour launched a bumbled and mismanaged investigation towards Barnard in an apparent smear campaign. She was accused of censuring the transphobic tweets of a Labour councillor and for use of the acronym ‘TERF’. The inquiry was so ill-judged that the accusations mistakenly referenced Facebook rather than Twitter where they were originally posted. The party was forced to apologise “unreservedly” and claimed that the investigation notice was sent out in error.
All Barnard was doing online was highlighting the perpetual issue of transphobia that has permeated the party under this leadership. Parliamentarian, Rosie Duffield, is under constant scrutiny for her gender-critical views by reposting transphobic tweets filled with such heinous language. It seems Labour are solely committed to recapturing the socially-conservative voter that they lost by avoiding the frenzied culture war and not holding their own officials accountable.
Labour is threatened by YL, particularly when its values are aligned with the majority of the party membership. It has backed a motion for Britain to withdraw from NATO, voted to make Brazil’s former leader of the people Lula as its honorary president, whilst calling for the abolition of unpaid internships for young people and graduates. Since young Labour voters are overwhelmingly likely to support progressive causes rather than play it safe, it is almost guaranteed that YL has the backing of this core demographic. Starmer and his coterie of moderate advisors would rather dismiss YL than listen to their passions and concerns.
Starmer was elected Labour leader by putting party unity at the forefront of his campaign. He pledged to end the factional warfare that plagued Corbyn’s tenure, mostly perpetrated by the party’s right, and promoted ten left-wing pledges to placate an increasingly leftist base. Since being leader, Starmer has not met any of these aims. Instead, he has allowed Corbyn-sceptics to run riot and attack the left in every direction.
The sidelining of Young Labour is significant in scope and exposes the party’s agenda to push young people to the fringe. Barnard’s spark and outspoken nature has general secretary David Evans running amok when it comes to alienating the left. This year’s conference will be tumultuous, acrimonious and at most riven with division. YL’s push for policy will continue to inspire those who joined Labour in the first place, inspired by a transformative vision.
