Student groups are leaving the Labour party in droves. We spoke to Manchester Student Left (formerly Manchester Labour Students) to find out why.
Naked Politics Staff
Student politics has long been seen as a testing ground for the future of the left in Britain. For decades, Labour clubs on campus have been a vital pipeline of energy, ideas and young activists into the Party. But under Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, that link is breaking.
In recent weeks, a wave of student groups have disaffiliated from Labour altogether; a striking show of disillusionment with Keir Starmer’s leadership and with Labour now in government. At the time of writing, Warwick Left Society and the Newcastle Labour Society have also formally disassociated from the party. New "Your Party" student alternative groups are also springing up in UCL and Kings College London.
For many young activists, the breaking point has been Labour’s stance on Palestine, but also a wider sense of being silenced, sidelined and shut out of a party they no longer see as representing them.
Manchester Student Left is one of the latest groups to go, and they say they won’t be the last. We spoke with Gus, a committee member, about why they left, the excitement around a new left-wing party, and how the future of student politics is increasingly internationalist and anti-imperial.
Naked Politics: What was the decision making process around Manchester Student Left’s choice to disaffiliate itself from the Labour Party?
Gus: Ever since Starmer took over the leadership, and especially since Labour came into government last year, people have really been questioning their commitment to the party generally. Last year, we saw a massive disengagement from people over Palestine. Even though we've maintained a very strongly left-wing committee for years and an active membership, it's definitely declined over time because of Labour being in power.
When Zarah and Jeremy announced the new left party, that changed everything. A lot of members had reached out to me and other committee members in private, saying that they were going to join the new left party, which has like 800,000 signups, probably more at this point. We've also maintained very close ties with Warwick Left Society… formerly Warwick Labour Society. They were definitely a big influence on our decision to leave.
We've always been outraged at this current government, whether it's their austerity or participation in the genocide of Palestinians, but I think really the decision was more of a structural one. Before [the announcement of the new left party] we really felt committed to stay and fight from within the Labour party. But this is now the future of the left clearly; we should be following it offering our full support.
Naked Politics: So an integral factor in Manchester Left’s decision to leave Labour was Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana's left party? It's really interesting that it's had that kind of a trickle down effect already. There's still so much to know about what this new left wing party is going to look like, it literally doesn't even have a name yet right and student groups are already like “yeah let's go!”
Gus: We're obviously excited. A lot of our members really want to attend the founding conference in person, we're planning events we'd like to push for in the new left party (obviously there's going to be differing views amongst students). We've got good plans for Freshers' Week where we're going to try and get lots of students involved.
Naked Politics: There's been quite a bit of coverage on how the Labour Party is dealing with the young people that are affiliated with it, including young activists and volunteers. Some said they were afraid to vocalise their opinions for fear of being penalised. Why do you think the Labour Party has lost touch with young people and where young people are at?
Gus: I think there’s been a slow decline since Starmer became leader in 2020. It's reached a point now where there is such a culture of intimidation. The New Statesman article showed young people having their jobs not even related to the Labour Party threatened, which is awful. Even at a grassroots level amongst students I'd definitely say there's a feeling of being silenced. Ordinary members at the university don't feel like they're able to express their views on Palestine within Labour constructs.
Naked Politics: There is potentially another left wing political party: the Green Party. It looks extremely likely that Zach Polanski will be the next leader of the Green Party. He's called himself an “eco populist.” To what extent are you also interested as a group in sort of aligning yourselves with the Greens?
Gus: It's impossible to see Zack Polanski winning the election as anything but positive. I’m not sure exactly what will happen at a national level there, but shortly we will be reaching out to the young Greens at Manchester and seeing how we can work together on campaigns.
Our fights are very similar, especially on things such as environmental issues and the genocide in Gaza. I just think generally it's a good positive development for the left.
Naked Politics: Manchester Left are not the only Labour students group to make this decision.
Gus: I can almost guarantee that we'll see more defections from Labour clubs in the next couple of days.
Naked Politics: It feels like over the last few years, student politics has become more internationalist and anti-imperial. Before that, it seemed that student politics was focused on anti-austerity maybe spurred on by things like the trebling of tuition fees, but it didn’t feel as global as this.
Gus: 100%. I think anti-imperialism amongst young people generally is growing. I wouldn't even say just amongst students. The Palestine encampments that sprung up across the country and even the world was a massive turning point.
There's also a good linking between issues with everything going on in Congo and Sudan. I think we're definitely seeing a broader anti-imperialist coalition forming on campuses and across the world. I'd also say that the rise of social media makes it a lot easier for student groups to coordinate across the world and nationally.
We don't want to present ourselves as the entirety of the student on campus… but what we want to do, is show both students involved in organising and not, that there's a space for us to push for not just electoral gains, but to build a more coherent movement nationally.
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