Cruddas teams up with McDonnell to back Trade Union Bill

grimupnorth Wed Sep 19, 2007 at 04:51:06 PM GMT Print-friendly version Facebook

Very glad to report that Jon Cruddas is venturing out once more beyond the comfort zone of COMPASS. Since almost getting the deputy leadership Cruddas has been very quiet



Once Conference is over, he will be speaking at the next big event of the political season.
A National Parliamentary Rally in support of the Trade Union Rights And Freedoms Bill proposed by John McDonnell will be held on Thursday October 18. First introduced to the House last year and with an EDM signed by over 187MPs, this has every chance of being passed - if enough of us speak out in support and lobby our MPs . More info . http://www.unitedcampaign.org.uk/ Aside from the  two Johns, other speakers on the day will include Tony Woodley, Bob Crow, Paul Kenny and Katy Clark MP. My union, the NUJ, is one of around 20 ( including UNISON and UNITE) backing the campaign .

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Cruddas teams up with McDonnell to back Trade Union Bill | 21 comments (21 topical)

Re: (#1)

by HenryG on Wed Sep 19, 2007 at 07:03:31 PM GMT

Good for him. I see he's also spoken out against Liam Byrne's reactionary language on immigrants. Yesterday Byrne said:

"I believe those here illegally should go home - not go to the front of the queue for jobs and benefits."

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/jon_cruddas/2007/09


Re: (#2)

by SimonHH on Wed Sep 19, 2007 at 07:54:38 PM GMT

Yes, good for him.


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Re: (#3)

by NorthernMonkey on Wed Sep 19, 2007 at 09:07:33 PM GMT

So you're saying that illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay here?


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Re: (#5)

by grimupnorth on Wed Sep 19, 2007 at 11:36:00 PM GMT

Having seen the appalling Liam Byrne on newsnight, yes. he was boasting about the number of people we have deported. Not  my kind of Labour values.


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Re: (#8)

by NorthernMonkey on Thu Sep 20, 2007 at 03:05:25 AM GMT

Well the public expects people who have come into the country illegally to be deported. I don't think there's anything wrong with that and it's sad that some people are practically accusing Byrne of racist or xenophobic views for simply doing his job.


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Re: (#15)

by Ian G on Tue Oct 02, 2007 at 04:05:04 PM GMT


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Re: (#16)

by SimonHH on Sun Oct 07, 2007 at 04:29:30 PM GMT

What is this strange entity called 'the public' which has an opinon on deportation? People have a range of opinions on deportation. These are often less than consistent. A good number of people, if asked by Mori or whoever, would be up for sending all illegal immigrants 'home', but would fight tooth and nail to stop their friendly next-door neighbour from being deported. In any case, we might fondly imagine that Labour politicians ought to be seeking to form and lead opinion, rather than pandering to its lowest depths.


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Re: (#19)

by NorthernMonkey on Sun Oct 07, 2007 at 07:20:12 PM GMT

It is not pandering, or racist or xenophobic. People should not be able to enter the country illegally. When governments start losing all control of borders and admit defeat that's when trust is eroded and elections are lost.

It is a basic principle that the law should be upheld and we should stick to those principles.


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Re: (#10)

by grimupnorth on Thu Sep 20, 2007 at 12:04:36 PM GMT

Sentiments I'm sure which the BNP would applaud. Byrne is appalling....all that  kind of talk does is fuel their racist propaganada.


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Re: Cruddas (#4)

by NorthernMonkey on Wed Sep 19, 2007 at 09:13:02 PM GMT

Also, why does Cruddas say "In my area of Barking and Dagenham, we have welcomed the impact of migrants", when we all know that's blatantly not true. As one of the CiF commenters points out, the BNP vote grew rapidly in that area in 2005.

I think he's got a very rose-tinted, and dare I say, naive view of immigration in the UK.


Re: Cruddas (#6)

by grimupnorth on Wed Sep 19, 2007 at 11:36:50 PM GMT

So we pander to the right , do we. I think that's pretty contemptible.


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Re: Cruddas (#7)

by NorthernMonkey on Thu Sep 20, 2007 at 03:03:42 AM GMT

What on earth has 'pandering to the right' got anything to do with it?

Illegal immigration is wrong purely for the fact that those immigrants have entered the country illegally! I'm sorry, I never realised a requirement of being on the left was encouraging people to break the law...

If immigrants come into the country legally then that's fine, but breaking the law is not acceptable and is not a mark of a decent society, left or right. Britain isn't a free-for-all where the law only applies every now and again.


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Re: Cruddas (#9)

by TonyHannon on Thu Sep 20, 2007 at 11:19:08 AM GMT

Not only that, but illegal immigration takes most from and is most unfair on immigrants who have come here legally.

I agree that it's distasteful to "boast" about how many illegal immigrants are slung out but removing them is absolutely the right thing to do and not at all a right-wing position.

The immigration system prioritises those with the greatest need – it must be awful for those people who’ve gone through the system only to see illegals jump the queue and give them a bad name.

One thing I’ve never understood – how can illegal immigrants get jobs and benefits without NI numbers?


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Re: Cruddas (#11)

by NorthernMonkey on Thu Sep 20, 2007 at 01:46:40 PM GMT

They work cash-in-hand so don't register for any tax deductions. The companies who employ them probably pay them below the minimum wage too.


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Re: Cruddas (#12)

by doctordunc on Thu Sep 20, 2007 at 06:00:52 PM GMT

They don't.  Which is the point.  Byrne's comments were purely to get approving headlines from right-wing papers: his point was completely meaningless.  Illegal immigrants clearly don't go to the front of any queues, and why Byrne would want to stir up the popular imagination that they did is beyond me.

Stupidity springs to mind was one possible explanation.


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Re: Cruddas (#13)

by TonyHannon on Fri Sep 21, 2007 at 10:37:25 AM GMT

In that case it was a very cynical and ignorant remark.

It really ill behoves political leaders of all people to make confusing statements on this issue.


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Re: Cruddas (#17)

by SimonHH on Sun Oct 07, 2007 at 04:35:31 PM GMT

Yes, as it happens, the law is not universally applied. Nor could it be. There are not enough police officers in the country to arrest every drug user, impound every unlicensed dog, chastise every litter lout or check every CD collection for forgeries. Politicians and law enforcement officials have to make judgements about which statues to enforce. And which they choose says an awful lot about the values of the society in question. So, for example, there are many conclusions we could draw from the fact that a lot more hot air is devoted to hounding out some of the most vulnerable people on these shores (illegal immigrants) than to fulminating against the injustice of, say, tax evasion by the super-rich.


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Re: Cruddas (#18)

by NorthernMonkey on Sun Oct 07, 2007 at 07:16:42 PM GMT

Well that's the real world Simon. People don't like the idea of illegal immigrants coming here (and breaking the law by doing so) using resources whilst not paying tax.

The government should not be encouraging people to break the law, so illegal immigration should be tackled.


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Re: Cruddas (#20)

by SimonHH on Sun Oct 07, 2007 at 08:12:30 PM GMT

That post makes no sense whatsoever. The point I made was that a lot of spin and effort goes into chasing illegal immigrants earning peanuts, if anything, whilst there are people who evade tax to the tune of millions. This is not some fact of nature, given to us by the 'real world', it is the result of political decisions. Nothing in your post answers the point.


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Re: Cruddas (#21)

by NorthernMonkey on Sun Oct 07, 2007 at 10:20:22 PM GMT

The government should certainly tackle those who evade tax, I agree. But that doesn't mean they should give up on tackling illegal immigration as well.


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Re: Cruddas (#14)

by fluffymike on Tue Sep 25, 2007 at 04:52:38 PM GMT

erm, don't forget - far more people voted against the BNP than for them when given the opportuinty, so let's not assume that the majority in Barking et al would oppose what Cruddas said either...


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Cruddas teams up with McDonnell to back Trade Union Bill | 21 comments (21 topical)