Stephen Kinnock, Member of Parliament for Aberavon and Labour Party Shadow Minster for Asia and the Pacific, addressed IW Labour members on a range of subjects, from proportional representation in Parliamentary elections to developments in the far East and their relation to global politics – with particular reference to ongoing talks about crucial environmental issues.
Stephen – son of former Labour leader and peer Neil Kinnock – is an advocate of proportional representation, and fronts Renaissance – a grass-roots movement determined to bring about the re-birth of Labour from the classes and groups which some think it has forgotten.
Highlights of presentation
The points he made were:
- Labour is a party of patriotism – we do not support selling off British industries to foreign interests, to which so much of our infrastructure has gone;
- We understand that patriotism is not about words, but about actions: and patriotic actions do not include selling off and selling out British interests, as this government is doing;
- We cannot cling, as a party or country, to the unfairness, anti-democratic nature, and sheer impracticality of First Past the Post (FPTP) electoral systems, in a country in which there are more parties contending for power than there ever were before: the day of two-party politics has gone, and Labour Party members need to recognize this.
Support from Island Labour
The Isle of Wight Labour Party supports proportional representation, on a basis to be agreed, for national and local government elections.
Members attended this meeting via Zoom, and Island Labour Party Chair, Cllr Richard Quigley, thanked Stephen for his comprehensive presentation on behalf of all of our members.
News shared by Richard Quigley on behalf of Island Labour. Ed
Image: Richard Townshend under CC BY 3.0
