Lead story

McDonnell rejects Tory shackles

by Caroline Colebrook

SHADOW Chancellor John McDonnell won over the Parliamentary Labour Party last week to reject Tory plans to pass a law that would tie future governments to create a budget surplus in “normal” conditions.

Previously Labour had supported this measure in order to demonstrate their commitment to sort out Britain’s persistent budget deficits, although using different means to this end. But McDonnell balked last week when Chancellor George Osborne insisted on the measure being passed without debate or any opportunity to amend it.

Effectively it would tie future governments to continue with the Tories’ extreme austerity cuts.

McDonnell consulted with the Parliamentary Labour Party before doing a policy U-turn.

McDonnell said: “There is a significant difference between the charter and the mandate which the Labour Party agreed to support in January in that the Government’s proposal to require a continuing surplus on public sector net borrowing constrains the ability to borrow for future capital investment, a key plank of Labour’s growth strategy and one supported by the great majority of mainstream economists.

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McDonnell rejects Tory shackles

Western media coverage of Ukraine crisis denounced in London

by Theo Russell

ANTI-FASCISTS in London discussed the role of the western media in reporting the turmoil in Ukraine over the past two years at a meeting organised by Solidarity with the Antifascist Resistance in Ukraine (SARU) at the Marx Memorial Library in central London last Wednesday.

Andriy Bondarenko, a journalist for DnipropetrovskPravda, and member of the Dnepropetrovsk regional assembly for the Communist Party of Ukraine, and Roger Annis, chief editor of the website NewCold War: Ukraine and Beyond, based in Canada, were interviewed via Skype at the meeting.

Bondarenko began by examining a series of new laws passed by the Kiev parliament, under which, he said: “The left media in Ukraine has ceased to exist, with no court decision, and all communist publications are effectively banned.”

Bondarenko said that under the law on “Condemnation of the Communist and Nazi totalitarian regimes in Ukraine and banning of propaganda of their symbols,” which came into effect in May 2015: “In effect it is now illegal to publicly support or promote the symbols of the communist government of Ukraine which ended in 1990. This includes even expressing support for the collectivisation of agriculture, and carries prison terms of five to 10 years.

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Western media coverage of Ukraine crisis denounced in London

Syrian troops push forward

by our Arab Affairs correspondent

SYRIAN troops and people’s militia units have surged forward on all fronts against ISIS and the Muslim Brotherhood in co-ordination with Russian air power this week. But in Damascus two terrorist mortar shells hit the Russian embassy on Tuesday to disrupt a huge rally outside the building in support of the Russian intervention.

The demonstrators had been waving Russian flags and holding up large photographs of Russian President Vladimir Putin when the shells landed. Two Syrians were injured but none of the embassy staff were hurt.

In recent days, Syrian troops have liberated large areas of the country and inflicted massive losses on the “Islamic State”. ISIS militants have lost most of their ammunition, heavy vehicles and equipment Russian Defence Ministry said on Tuesday. At least 86 ISIS targets were hit during 88 sorties in the last 24 hours. Russian bombers, together with ground support aircraft targeted ISIS positions in the provinces of Raqqah, Hama, Idlib, Latakia and Aleppo, according to the ministry. The jets hit command posts, ammunition and armament depots, military vehicles, plants producing explosives, field camps and bases

Russia’s war on terror went into its second week pounding the terrorists who are financed and armed by imperialism and America’s feudal Arab lackeys. Russian aviation has been more effective in one week of airstrikes than the US and its allies have been in more than year, raising questions about whether or not Washington ever really wanted to eliminate ISIS.

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Syrian troops push forward

Editorial

Secret state rules

THE REAL nature of the British bourgeois “democratic” state was revealed last week with the news from the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) that that the secret intelligence surveillance force at GCHQ is authorised to monitor the communications of all MPs, peers, MSPs, AMs and MEPs — all our elected representatives.

Effectively the power of these unelected spies is rated above that of the people who are elected to represent us in Parliament — our votes have no impact on the ultimate power in this country.

It is even more concerning when we remember that GCHQ works hand-in-glove with the American NSA and the two together monitor billions of electronic communications all around the globe, including elected heads of state, as revealed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Previously it was generally thought that the so-called Wilson doctrine prevailed, which allowed the communications of elected representatives to be truly private.

This doctrine protected their constituents who wanted to report corruption or make complaints about government departments — including the police — failing in their duty of care to the general public.

Just a week ago Home Secretary Theresa May told Parliament the doctrine still applied. So the IPT announcement has come as a surprise to most MPs. The IPT judgement is in response to a claim brought by two Green party parliamentarians — Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion and Baroness Jones. They had complained that disclosures by the whistleblower Edward Snowden made it clear that GCHQ was capturing their communications in breach of the so-called Wilson Doctrine.

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Secret state rules