Where Are The Labour Left?

“The left isn’t going anywhere,” a young activist told a small, packed room at the Socialist Campaign Group (SCG) rally at Labour Party Conference in Liverpool.

Joined by SCG MPs John McDonnell, Richard Burgon, Zarah Sultana, Nadia Whittome and new MP Steve Witherden, the rally assured socialist members the group was still “alive and kicking”. 

But with Starmer stuffing his backbenches with allies and the SCG dwindling in numbers, can the Labour left return to its Corbynite heyday, or is it destined to remain out in the cold?

“It was standing room only,” said Burgon, reflecting on the rally the morning after. “People were sitting on the floor; people couldn’t get in through the door. I think that shows the anti-austerity and anti-cuts analysis of the Socialist Campaign Group has resonance with Labour Party members. [It’s] Socialist Campaign Group MPs being clear on their call for the government to think again when it comes to winter fuel payments cuts”.

The SCG enjoyed some success in their aims at conference. Partnering with the Labour Assembly Against Austerity, they encouraged party members to vote for trade union Unite’s non-binding motion on Wednesday for a reversal on government cuts to winter fuel payments. The Unite motion won, putting further pressure on the leadership over the controversial policy.

Still, the mood on Labour’s left appears one of defeat. Some members of the SCG did not attend this year’s conference, with a Labour left source saying they were “too despondent” over the leadership’s decision to keep the two-child benefit cap and abolish winter fuel payments.

Others felt resigned to the “setbacks” they had suffered, and accepted that the centre-right was now in control. "Keir Starmer's faction of the