Workers Party of Britain | |
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Leader | George Galloway |
Deputy Leaders | Andy Hudd Chris Williamson Peter Ford |
Founder | George Galloway |
Founded | December 2019 |
Headquarters | 91 Church Road Birmingham B13 9AE[1] |
Membership (November 2023) | 2,962[2][third-party source needed] |
Ideology | |
Political position | Left-wing[7][8] to far-left[9][10] |
House of Commons | Parliament dissolved |
Local government[11] | 5 / 18,725 |
Website | |
www | |
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Organizations
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The Workers Party of Britain (WPB), also called the Workers Party of Great Britain (WPGB) or Workers Party GB,[12][13][14] is a socialist and socially conservative political party in the United Kingdom, led by and identified with politician George Galloway. The party, founded in 2019, secured a parliamentary seat when Galloway won the February 2024 Rochdale by-election.
The Workers Party of Britain was founded in response to the Labour Party's landslide defeat at the 2019 United Kingdom general election and the resignation of Jeremy Corbyn as Leader of the Labour Party.[15] The founding of the Workers Party of Britain was welcomed by the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist–Leninist) (CPGB-ML).[16][4] Joti Brar, a vice-chair of the CPGB-ML, was elected as the Workers Party of Britain's deputy leader at its founding congress.[16][4] In March 2021, the party stood its first candidate for elected office, Paul Burrows, in the by-election for Helensburgh and Lomond South ward on Argyll and Bute Council.[17] Burrows came last out of six, gaining 22 votes (0.9%).[18]
In the 2021 United Kingdom local elections, the party stood more than 40 candidates for local elections in England.[citation needed] The WPB contested its first parliamentary seat at the 2021 Batley and Spen by-election, with Galloway as its candidate.[15] Galloway gained 8,264 votes (21.9%) and came in third, behind the winning Labour candidate Kim Leadbeater and second placed Conservative candidate Ryan Stephenson. The Lib Dems came in fourth place, as they did in the previous election.[19] Galloway concentrated on the issues of the Palestinian territories, the Kashmir conflict, criticism of Labour leader Keir Starmer, the suspension of a teacher for showing a cartoon of Muhammad at Batley Grammar School, and the reopening of a police station in Batley.[20][21][22] The campaign received considerable media attention due to incidents of harassment during its final days.[23][24][25][26] The Jewish Labour Movement called the result a "triumph for hope and decency" over Galloway's "toxic politics". Galloway vowed to challenge the result on the basis of an alleged "false statement" made about him by Leadbeater and Starmer, which he said tipped the result of the by-election.[27][28]
The party contested the Almond ward of Edinburgh council in the 2022 Scottish local elections, and came second to last with 61 first preference votes (0.4%).[29] In the 2022 local elections, Workers Party candidate Ed Woollard achieved 15% of the vote in the Bordesley and Highgate ward of Birmingham.[30]
In 2023, the former Labour MP Chris Williamson joined the party.[31][32] The Workers Party has defended Williamson, who was suspended from the Labour Party for his comments about antisemitism allegations in the Labour Party, and Ken Livingstone, who left the party following allegations of antisemitism.[33]
At the party's Congress in December 2023, Galloway was re-elected party leader. Three deputy leaders were elected – Chris Williamson, Andy Hudd (Vice President of the ASLEF) and Peter Ford (former Ambassador to Bahrain and Syria).[34][32]
On 29 February 2024, Galloway won the 2024 Rochdale by-election.[35] The Israel–Hamas war dominated the campaign. In his election speech, Galloway said: "Keir Starmer, this is for Gaza. You will pay a high price for the role that you have played in enabling, encouraging and covering for the catastrophe presently going on in occupied Palestine, in the Gaza Strip."[36][37] Galloway won almost 40% of the vote and overturned a previous Labour majority of 9,668. Turnout at 39.7% was much lower than the 60.1% for the 2019 general election.[38] Labour had withdrawn support for its candidate when it became known he had suggested that Israel was complicit in the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel.[39] Following the by-election, it was announced that the Workers Party has 59 prospective parliamentary candidates for the 2024 United Kingdom general election.[40]
During the week of Galloway's by-election win, a Workers Party delegation was taking part in the Kremlin-sponsored World Festival of Youth in Russia.[41]
In March 2024, the party gained its first councillor when the former mayor of Hounslow, Amritpal Mann, defected to the Workers Party.[42]
On 30 April 2024, Galloway announced that the party intended to stand in every seat at the next general election. He said that 500 had been selected, and dozens were named, including cricketer Monty Panesar (who subsequently withdrew[43]), former Conservative/UKIP politician Amjad Bashir, former diplomats Peter Ford and Craig Murray, and Wayne Adlem is one standing in Bournemouth East, and Khalil Ahmed, a previous Labour candidate expected to stand in Wycombe. Galloway said the party was targeting Labour seats (describing the party as their "number one enemy").[44][45]
At the 2024 United Kingdom local elections, the party stood 33 candidates for councillor positions, with four of them being elected, including two in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale (where they received 13% of the overall vote) and one in Calderdale. Shahbaz Sarwar, their candidate in Longsight Ward, Manchester, unseated deputy leader of City Council Luthfur Rahman, with 2,444 votes to Labour’s 2,259.[46][47][48] The WPB-endorsed independent candidate for the Mayor of the West Midlands, Akhmed Yakoob, came third with almost 70,000 votes, and announced plans to stand in the General Election.[49]
In May 2024, Galloway told Novara Media that same-sex relationships are not "normal", while Bolton WPB candidate, Sajid Pathan, refused to comment on this question.[50]
The party identifies as a socialist, working class party, which aims for "a redistribution of wealth and power in favour of working people".[51] It describes itself as "economically radical" and "committed to class politics".[52][53] It has expressed support for a planned economy. The party's platform is outlined in its 10-point plan, in which it advocates "rebuilding British industry", universal "decent housing", "free or cheap" public transportation and an end to NHS waiting lists.[51] It advocates for referendums on net zero emissions policies and the future of the monarchy. Its manifesto states: "The transition to a Green economy should be at a pace that matches the ability of our population to afford it. We will not be seduced by the more apocalyptic Green hysteria that floods our media but we will seek rational debate centred on democratically aligned outcomes beneficial to workers".[54][non-primary source needed]
The party has been defined as socially conservative, for example rejecting gender self-identification,[4] and party leader George Galloway describes himself as such.[55] Galloway said the party was "the working-class patriotic alternative to fake woke anti-British 'Labour'".[56]
The party is opposed to NATO and European Union membership, with a policy of withdrawing Britain from NATO.[57][51] In a statement it said it "is unequivocal in its support for the Palestinian liberation struggle and opposition to Zionism as a violently racist ideology".[58][59] Its website states that the party will "withdraw all military support from war zones".[54]
The party has been referred to as "climate sceptical" and as "strongly downplaying the human impact of two hundred years of industrialisation and greenhouse gas emissions" in terms of its stance regarding how to respond to climate change.[60]
Further information: Senedd |
Year | Votes | % | Seats | Misc. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2021 | 411 | 0.04% | 0/60 | Contested South Wales Central (0.2%) |
Further information: Scottish Parliament |
Year | Votes | % | Seats | Misc. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2021 | 23,299 | 0.9% | 0/129 | As part of All for Unity, contested all regional ballots |
Further information: UK parliamentary by-elections |
Year | Votes | Candidate | % | Seat | Finish |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2021 | 8,264 | George Galloway | 21.9% | Batley and Spen | 3rd |
2024 | 12,335 | 39.7% | Rochdale | 1st |
Further information: Local elections in the UK |
Year | Votes | Candidate | % | Position | Finish |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2024 | 2,378 | John Hamilton | 5.7% | Mayor of Lewisham[61] | 5th |
Year | Votes | Candidate | % | Position | Finish |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2024 | 8,396 | Waheed Akbar | 8.3% | Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner | 4th |