OnTheWight always welcomes a Letter to the Editor to share with our readers – unsurprisingly they don’t always reflect the views of this publication. If you have something you’d like to share, get in touch and of course, your considered comments are welcome below.
This from a reader known to OnTheWight who wishes to remain anonymous. Ed
On Thursday 24th July, it was announced that a new political party was being launched in the UK. Temporarily called ‘Your Party’ until a permanent name is agreed upon. This new party promises to help fill a gap in our political landscape as the Labour Party has steered more towards the centre of UK politics.
The party has been launched by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana and promises to develop a set of member-driven policies that will focus on protecting public services, reducing wealth inequality and maintaining an ethical foreign policy. Three areas in which recent governments have in many people’s eyes been far too timid to be effective.
Doing politics differently
There is much talk about doing politics differently, and key to that will be engaging people to determine the direction of local groups and empowering constituents to select their own parliamentary candidates, rather than having remote selections that may suit party HQ more than residents.
Challenges facing younger people
A great hope is that a new generation of young, passionate and ethically robust people can emerge unburdened by the politics of the past. Younger people in particular face enormous challenges with precarious housing, a future of increasingly uncertain employment and the triple challenges of climate change, the demographic time bomb and disruptive AI.
Given those challenges it has never been more important to have their voices not just represented, but also helping to lead.
Newport meeting
The new party is set to hold its first conference in the autumn, but before then people are encouraged to organise in their own communities based on the guiding principles of wanting to see a more equal, fair, democratic and sustainable society.
To this end, an open meeting has been organised to take place at 7pm on 14th August at the Unitarian Hall in Newport for all interested residents to attend.
Join others
So, if you are one of the 700,000 who have signed up on the Your Party mailing list, and you wish to play a role in what may well be the most transformative political project for many decades, please consider getting along to the meeting.
