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The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain

Lead story

Lukashenko and Putin meet in Sochi

by Dmitry Sudakov

THE Russian and Belarusian leaders reaffirmed their 20 years of friendship at a summit in Russia this week. Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus held talks at the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Monday against the backdrop of ongoing protests that have rocked Belarus following the results of the presidential elections.

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TUC meets in cyberspace

by New Worker correspondent

THE 152nd Trades Union Congress met on Monday and Tuesday in a greatly abbreviated format, with only four people on the platform at Congress House in London whilst the delegates made their contributions from home in the front of their computers. The general public were invited to watch but it would be surprisingly if many did.

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Editorial

Labour and unions form a united front

LABOUR and the unions formed a united front this week to call for an extension of the coronavirus furlough scheme beyond its cut-off date at the end of October. TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady is urging the Government to act to prevent “a tsunami of job losses” that will follow whilst the Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, calls for “urgent talks” with Boris Johnson to set up “new targeted support” when the job-retention scheme ends.

But while there’s no doubt that the Prime Minister can be swayed by mass pressure – as his past U-turns on many key issues have shown – the response of the Johnson team on this issue has not gone beyond the usual platitudes regularly used by the ruling class to fob off plebeian demands.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak says he will be “creative” in helping people find work. He says it’s his “top priority” but that “indefinitely keeping people out of work is not the answer”. Employment Minister Mims Davies hedged his bets by suggesting that there could be a more targeted approach when the Chancellor unveils his budget later in the year.

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