UK leftists

On 2 December, a new anti-far right alliance was announced: Together. “Together we can reject narratives of division and racism. Together we can build solidarity across communities.”

Together has announced a ‘Love, Hope and Unity’ demonstration on 28 March 2026, followed by leafleting in the May elections, “urging people to use their vote to stop Reform”.

The need to combat racism and the far right is urgent. Although recent polls have shown a small dip, Nigel Farage’s racist right-populist Reform UK is at around 25%. In the summer, over 100,000 people marched with far-right activist Tommy Robinson on a ‘Unite the Kingdom’ demonstration. Protests have taken place at asylum hotels around the country. There is a widespread fear among Black, Asian and migrant communities, and among many workers and activists, at the likelihood of gains for Reform in the May elections and the possibility of a future Farage-led government.

But the Socialist Party is clear: the politics and methods of ‘Together’ are not what is needed. . This new alliance was simultaneously announced on the websites of Stand Up To Racism (SUTR), unions including the University and College Union and Fire Brigades Union, and various other organisations, including the Socialist Workers’ Party (SWP) and Morning Star, the paper of the Communist Party of Britain. 

Signatories start with a long list of celebrities (34 at latest count). Then comes a list of over 40 politicians, including Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana of Your Party, Zack Polanski of the Green Party, and left Labour MPs such as John McDonnell and Richard Burgon. It also includes Starmer-supporter Stella Creasy.

Next the ‘organisations’ – the TUC (Trades Union Congress) and 24 trade unions are randomly mixed in with charities and campaigns such as Friends of the Earth.

Clearly a lot of discussion went on before this was launched. But it seems not among the over five million trade unionists represented by the union signatories – at least in some cases their lay elected leaderships were not even informed it was happening.

The Executive of the National Education Union (NEU), for example, was presented with a paper just the night before its meeting on 29 November. This paper informed the exec that “SUTR approached the NEU with the idea of trying to build a broader anti-far right organisation”; that a “series of meetings were convened from late October with a variety of unions, NGOs, campaign groups, political parties and politicians”; then a “planning day was held in mid-November where a draft campaign plan, including a set of aims and strategies, was drawn up, as was a founding statement.”

All behind the scenes, without the necessary discussion in the unions themselves about what aims and strategies are needed to combat the far right. The organised working class in the trade unions, the biggest organised force in society with the potential power to unite and mobilise millions of people, is sidelined behind celebrities and charities.

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