Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack has said the landslide election win Labour enjoyed this summer was more an “anti-Tory” vote than active support for Labour.
Speaking at a Labour conference event on the rise of the far-right in Britain, the affiliated union leader said: “Unless the Labour movement offers hope to people then people will go in other directions.”
Coventry South MP Zarah Sultana, who also spoke at the panel, warned too: “When we have austerity, that deepens inequality.”
The MP, who lost the Labour whip in July after rebelling over the two-child benefit cap, also said “our fight is for a future where no one is left behind or discriminated against.”
The LabourList event in partnership with the FBU also featured journalist and historian Taj Ali – who spoke about his background growing up in Luton.
He said: “The far right do not get to speak for the white working class, or any multiracial working class.”
The event touched on the far-right riots that rocked the country this summer, about which anti-racist campaigner Suresh Grover said: “The violent racist riots represent a new phase in far right organising.”
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