Kent & Sussex branch are contesting this year’s local elections on 4 May, in Folkestone.

Here is our election manifesto:

Homes for People, not Profits

If you ever need to see the brutal reality of capitalism at work, look no further than the new apartment blocks being built along Folkestone seafront.

According to a County Council report, parts of both the Harbour and Central wards of Folkestone are among the 10 percent most deprived areas of England, so how many residents do you think will be able to afford the multi-million-pound apartments now being constructed in their front yard?

How many Folkestone residents got any real say in what the development would look like?

Of course, we already know the answer to those questions.

Like everything in the capitalist world we live in, profit is the only driving force. The only purpose in building homes under capitalism is that somebody somewhere makes a big fat profit. So despite the real housing needs of local residents, these apartments are not built for them.

The Socialist Party of Great Britain stands for the common and democratic ownership of the means of producing and distributing wealth in a global community without borders.

This means all of us will actually own the Folkestone Seafront. When we controlthe resources of the earth –from the farms to the mines and quarries – nothing will stop us building the best quality houses, with real community participation, for the people that need them. Access to these houses and apartments will be freeaccording to our real needs.

If we own everything, why do you need money?

Extend that to food production, clean energy, clean rivers and oceans. When we own the world, we will ensure that we live in harmony with nature. Taking what we need to live well and not destroying the planet in the name of profit.

That is why we are asking for your vote. We cannot fix the problems of poverty and conflict within capitalism. And that is why we stand for a world free from borders, free from wars over markets and trade routes – a world where our fellow humans are no longer forced to risk their lives to seek a dignified life.

This is a revolution. A world revolution. And it has to start somewhere – so why not Folkestone on Thursday, 4th May?

The basic state pension is going up this week and the full rate will be just over £10,000 a year. This is the amount workers will be robbed of if the retirement age goes up a further year, as it will in three years’ time when it goes up from 66 to 67. There could then well be a Labour but you can safely bet they won’t do anything to stop it. Maybe they will be faced by French-style opposition with Starmer as the British Macron.

There’s talk of it going up to 68 before 2044 as currently scheduled. It’s a political hot potato which no government wants to be left holding as it won’t be popular. But there is another aspect to this.  Professor Sir Michael Marmot, an expert on health inequality, points out: 

“The most deprived two-thirds of the population do not have disability-free life expectancy as long as 68, so if you make the pension age older than that, you’re going to find a huge swath of the more deprived can’t work to 68 and will have less time time to enjoy this pension.” (Times, 31 January)

In other words, they will die before or soon after retiring. In fact this must be happening now to some extent with the retirement age at 66 and will to a greater extent when it goes up to 67. How convenient for the finances of the capitalist state. 

If you can’t work you are no use to capitalism, just an expendable drag on profits.

 Manufacturers of electric cars are using exaggerated driving ranges as the official tests to not reflect real life, a study has revealed.

More than 70 electric vehicles were analysed in independent tests by consumer champions Which? showed that real-world ranges were almost 20 per cent lower than what car makers advertised, on average.

Tests also found that electric car batteries will need around 15 per cent extra power than what has been advertised to fully charge – resulting in higher running costs.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11926701/Electric-car-manufacturers-use-exaggerated-vehicle-ranges-publicity-study-reveals.html