Trades Council statement that was read by Mark Metcalf at the Peter Oborne meeting on 19 June 2026 on Palestine

 

Trades Council statement that was read by Mark Metcalf at the Peter Oborne meeting on 19 June 2026 on Palestine

Calderdale Trades Union Council exists to bring together trade unionists across sectional divides, and to work with social movements in order to advance the politics of socialism.

Internationalism has long been vital to this work. We are proud to have supported Halifax Friends of Palestine over many years, and to have joined in solidarity with you on your marches, vigils and other innovative protests that have refused to let the question of Palestine slip from people’s minds. It’s an honour to co-host this event tonight.

We believe in the centrality of an internationalist politics as part of trades union organising. To this end we have hosted speakers such as Andrew Feinstein and Professor Paul Rogers, and we held a launch event with Alex Gordon of CND for their Alternative Defence Review.

The international situation is defined by the ongoing assault of the USA and Israel against Lebanon and Iran, and the heinous genocide in Palestine. Iran and Lebanon have been savagely bombed on the unfounded pretext that Iran poses an immediate threat to the USA.

For the first time in many years, this bombing has sparked open disagreement between NATO nations. Yet Atlanticism dies hard – despite some grumbling, British bases have been used to launch raids on Iran by American bombers, and to run surveillance flights over Gaza.

European NATO powers are concerned that Trump’s forays in Western Asia / Middle East have gone in tandem with reduced interest in the war in Ukraine. The American government seems interested in a deal with Putin’s Russia to carve up Ukraine and allow them access to valuable mineral resources. Meanwhile, the UK continues to back the Ukrainian government with millions of pounds worth of weapons, as well as urging European allies to do likewise.

Russia itself is an oligarch state, and members of this trades council have raised funds previously to support political prisoners jailed for supporting a more democratic Russia. Nevertheless, it’s clear that despite having supported Putin’s rise and welcomed him as a partner in the ‘war on terror’, European policy is now to bring Russia to its knees in order to further exploit its markets and resources. Where Trump stands on this remains unclear.

The trans-Atlantic alliance has long been central to British and European security, and our military establishment have bound our security and defence systems tightly to those of the US. At Trump’s encouraging, European powers are now in a race to rearm. Germany has committed to spending 5% of GDP on the military and war-related infrastructure by 2025. Canada too are moving towards the target of 5%. Achieving this target will require huge cuts to public spending and services in other sectors. When John Healey and Al Carns resigned from the Defence Ministry in the UK recently, we should be clear what they’re arguing for. The poor, the sick, the disabled and the elderly can go to hell and the sooner the better: the war machine needs to be fed.

Austerity will be stepped up to pay for war. The NEU are already fighting proposed cuts to education and will be running a national ballot for strike action from October. Healthcare unions too have been running campaigns for more funding to improve pay, reduce workload and properly fund service provision. Meanwhile, UCU have been drawing attention to the ailing finances of universities. New money for education and healthcare has been scant. But the new Defence secretary Dan Jarvis has already signalled that some way or another, more money will be found for the military. Why pour monies into education when many of those educated are going to be needed on the barricades?

Meanwhile, a police state is emerging through the policing of protests against Isreal’s genocide and support for the Palestinians right to resist Apartheid. This state – whether under Reform, Tory or Labour - will be further enforced when, not if, resistance is made by the working class to the further destruction of the NHS.

Our world is defined by the decline of American power, but like a wounded tiger this power lashes out aggressively and unpredictably. American attention is trained on China. For now, the 2 country’s economies are too tightly entangled but Trump’s tariffs agenda is slowly changing this. American-provoked conflict with China cannot be ruled out in future and of course there are plenty of political actors in Europe keen to back it, especially if in doing so they can bring down Russia and get access to its resources.

The question then becomes, what are we going to do about all this? Do we want our kids being taken off to war? Do we want a police state alongside degraded public services?

For this trades council, the answer to these questions is a firm NO. We want welfare, not warfare. But to achieve this we need to build a better organised opposition, including a mass working-class party intent on achieving a world based not on profit but on people. Such a party does not yet exist, though I know many in this room will have been working towards one. The trades council cannot be such a body, but in the meantime we can act as an orgnisation that unites trades union members and the working class across divisions and sectors.

Are you in a trade union? If so, make sure your branch affiliates to Calderdale TUC. If not, join one! Sign up to our mailing list tonight, and speak to us if you’d like support our work, get to know which union to join or about getting affiliated to the TUC.