Stick to ideological principles – Labour party leader

The leader of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom, Mr Jeremy Corbyn, has entreated socialists inclined political parties in Africa and other parts of the world to stick to their ideological principles to stay politically relevant for the benefit of their people.

He stated that it was only governments formed by socialists’ oriented political parties which by their cardinal policies brought about meaningful development to improve the living conditions of the vast majority of the people.

Keeping faith

Speaking to Graphic Online in Newcastle upon Tyne, a university city on the River Tyne in northeast England, Mr Corbyn entreated incumbent governments with socialists leanings to keep faith their citizenry by formulating human-centred policies to cater for the need of the vulnerable in the society.

He stated that the policies of socialists disposed political parties were to build safety nets for their people especially the vulnerable in the society to ensure they were not left out in the development process.

Ideologically, Mr Corbyn identifies as a democratic socialist who advocates reversing austerity cuts to public services and welfare funding and proposes renationalisation of public utilities and the railways in Britain.

He has also been an anti-war and anti-nuclear campaigner since his youth and broadly supports a foreign policy of military non-interventionism and unilateral nuclear disarmament.

Invest in people

With this orientation he told Graphic Online that the state had a responsibility to invest in the people to make them financially viable to afford the cost of living and to access social services with ease.

Mr Corbyn was first elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North in 1983 who began his career as a representative for various trade unions.

He announced his candidacy for the Labour Party leadership following the party’s defeat in the 2015 general election and the resignation of Mr Ed Miliband who was the party leader at the time.

Despite entering the leadership race as the no-hoper candidate and having only just secured 35 nominations from fellow Labour MPs to be placed on the ballot, Mr Corbyn emerged as the leading candidate and was elected leader in September 2015, with a first-round vote of 59.5 per cent.

“I have come a long way. The Labour Party is strong and we are confident winning the next election,” he told the Daily Graphic when asked about his party’s chances of winning the next polls which is not due until 2022.

Good sister relationship

The Labour leader submitted that his party had a good relationship with its sister parties in other parts of the world including the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Ghana, the Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwe adding that “the Labour Party believed Britain’s international role must be an extension of its vision at home”.

“We have to promote our national interest, secure growth and champion our core values of equality, social justice and opportunity for all. This resonated in the way our party engages with our global partners,” he added.

With the annual Labour Party conference scheduled to take place in Liverpool from September 23-26, 2018, Mr Corbyn indicated that the party was looking forward to be joined by about 300 international guests from sister parties including the NDC as well as the diplomatic community.

We will use the conference to reaffirm our principles of ensuring our security, working to reform Europe and helping to alleviate poverty, protect human rights and promote democracy,” the Labour Party leader stated.