Left Unity National Conference 2026

In the midst of war, climate and environmental crisis, severe deliberate damage to public services, the cost of living crisis, poverty and hunger, repression of our rights to protest, and the huge disappointment of this Labour government, Left Unity held its Annual National Conference on 12^th April 2026.

Left Unity stands by its foundational principles. It declares itself an ecosocialist, feminist internationalist, anti-war, anti-racist and anti-fascist party. We support the free movement of peoples and are a party with its roots firmly in the working-class struggles. Left Unity was founded in 2013. We are part of the European Left Party.

In recent years we have been working towards developing with others a new party to the left of Labour and welcomed the call for the founding of “Your Party”.

This year’s conference opened with a political discussion, the co-secretaries report and a treasurers report. These were followed by discussion on the following motions:

Motion 1. Fascism and the Far Right

Conference notes with alarm that we have entered a dangerous period in which the threat of fascism and the far right is very real and immediate. In many countries the far-right and fascists are part of the government. In others the far right is already in power and the fascists are waiting in the wings.

The most powerful, richest and charismatic men in the world are leading the way to fascism. Trump talks the language of fascism and behaves like a fascist and probably is a fascist. He does not yet preside over a fascist state. He has swept aside human and democratic rights. He has reversed ecological controls and is intent on expanding fossil fuels. He has established a para-military force – ICE – to wage against migrants and refugees. And he has led the world into war.

In Britain, the far-right Reform UK is on course to win a heap of council seats in May – after winning MPs and councillors, gaining control of some councils and joined by Tory defectors. In the event of a general election they are on course to win a general election and it is entirely possible that Nigel Farage will be the next prime minister.

Reform’s policy is essentially that every real problem in the world today are caused by immigration – housing, unemployment, crime, health…..

Alongside this is fascist Tommy Robinson who can mobilise 200K violent people, who have been attacking hotels in which asylum seekers have been placed.

What is the Labour Government doing about this? They are pandering to Reform. They have launched their policy on refugees and migrants under the banner of Earned Settlement. This means, for example that even if they have been granted refugee status they don’t have permanent residency. So, if years later the Home Office review the status of a country and decide it is safe, they might lose their rights to stay in Britain.

In the face of all this there is resistance across the globe. This was brought into sharp relief by the response of the people of Minneapolis to the killing of two people by ICE. Conference resolves to build upon this resistance.

Conference resolves that Left Unity argues for and helps to build a mass movement against the fascists and the far right. We need a movement which can work on an international, national and local level. This needs to be rooted in communities.

Given the violence that has grown we must argue for and organise community defence. For example, visiting targets regularly, defending individuals. We cannot rely on the police to defend communities. At the same time we should make demands on the state.

Given the centrality of immigration in the Reform party we must argue against controls and borders. Laws which make people criminals or have less rights than others because of where they were born, where their parents were born, the colour of their skin, the language they speak, their religion, their support of ‘British values’….. are discriminatory by definition and we should scrap them. At the same time we should join and build opposition against the further attacks on migrants.

We must defend and argue for the defence of other targets of the fascists and far right – disability, sexuality, gender, Gypsy, (Romany) Travellers, Roma.

There is a history of competing movements against racism and fascism. We should argue against this. If there is an existing campaign with roots in the area we should argue strongly that they collaborate.

In campaigning against Reform we need to challenge them on every element of their programme. To do this effectively we need a party – a mass, working class, socialist democratic party. This is more urgent than ever. To this end we will work to overcome difficulties for the development of Your Party.

Agreed

Motion 2. For peace, against imperialism and war

Left Unity notes:

• that the Trump administration’s assertion of naked military power has led to the US illegal bombing of Yemen, Iran (including the assassination of its head of state), Nigeria, Venezuela (including the kidnapping of its President), threats to annex Greenland and to the sovereignty of Cuba, Mexico and Colombia.

• the escalating US military action includes facilitating a genocide in Gaza, sustaining a proxy war in Ukraine, military build-up in the South China seas and maintenance of 700 military bases and 700,000 military personnel around the world.

• that governments across Europe are calling for massive increases to military spending and preparing their populations to ‘lose their children’, as a French general recently declared and that the British government has joined this war drive, pledging higher military spending and committing British military forces and resources to conflicts in Ukraine, Yemen and Gaza, while military and intelligence personnel regularly brief media that Britain must rearm and that British families must “know what sacrifice for our nation means”.

• the so called ‘special relationship’ between Britain and the US has led successive British governments to assist in illegal US actions, including disastrous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, NATO attacks on Libya, genocide in Gaza and attacks on Venezuela; it also underpins Britain’s nuclear weapons system and assigns a number of military bases in Britain to total US occupation and control.

• that NATO and its network of alliances and partner states continues to be a political, military and economic blight upon the entire world.

Left Unity resolves:

• To step up our anti-war and anti-imperialist campaigning; to work in solidarity for an independent Palestine, sovereign and free; to campaign against military spending and the militarisation of our society; to oppose the ongoing nuclear arms race and support campaigning for nuclear disarmament; to work to end the ‘special relationship’ with the US; to oppose NATO; and to increase our coordination with other left parties to be more effective in our internationalism and in this struggle.

Agreed

Motion 3. Against imperialism, NATO and war

Left Unity recognises the urgent need for peace and for anti-nuclear campaigning, for justice for Palestine and Iran and other war areas. Conference reiterates its opposition to imperialism. Left Unity opposes the Labour Government’s involvement in US military adventures and calls for an end to the UK involvement in NATO.

Agreed

Motion 4. For alignment with Your Party

This conference calls upon the officers of Left Unity UK to apply to be an associated party with Your Party and to encourage our members to be active in their areas within Your Party.

Agreed

Motion 5: For Disbanding Left Unity

Left Unity is now in its twelfth year. In its early period it was, in my opinion, by far the best conceived of a number of the fairly recent attempts (Socialist Alliance, Respect etc) to establish a socialist social democratic party. It was active in a number of fields and largely non-sectarian, largely democratic and attracted a lot of effective and impressive individuals. However, it began to lose its way with Jeremy Corbyn’s election as leader of the Labour Party, at which point we lost perhaps 50% of our members over a couple of months. Since then there has been a gradual decline in the membership to its current level of less than 250 and we are no longer seen as an important and influential part of the Left. I therefore believe that, despite a good website and possibly a few small groups of active members, it no longer serves a purpose as a membership organisation.

According to our constitution

“Left Unity can be disbanded by the decision of a Special Conference called for that purpose. Such a conference can be called by a resolution passed by an Annual Membership Conference or by a National Council (NC) resolution passed by 2/3 of NC members. To be applicable, the disbandment motion must be passed by 2/3 of those members attending the conference. If the disbandment motion is passed, the NC will oversee the process. All remaining Left Unity monies will be donated to an organisation which shares the values and objectives of Left Unity, as determined by the NC.”

We therefore resolve

1) That a Special Conference be called to disband Left Unity

2) That should the disbandment be approved, the NC should propose at that conference a list of 2 or 3 possible organisations to receive the funds in the Left Unity account, and take a vote of the members present as advisory in deciding to which of these organisations the funds should go.

Not agreed

Motion 6. For internationalism, an end to capitalism

Left Unity will continue to campaign for internationalism and for an end to capitalism.

Agreed

Motion 7. Housing

Left Unity believes the housing crisis in the UK must be addressed by community campaigning and by the demand for a massive council house building programme, producing eco and community friendly, well-insulated homes, affordable by all.

Agreed

Motion 8. Against food poverty

Left Unity recognises the urgent need for food to be affordable for all and of good quality, and to support the practical and campaign work that is growing on this issue. Food poverty, particularly for children in this very rich country, is a national scandal.

Agreed

Motion 9. Eco-socialism

Left Unity reiterates its commitment to eco-socialism and to continue to work on this issue.

Agreed

Motion 10. Women organising

The women of the UK have carried the burden of austerity, poor wages and public sector cuts whilst still being the largest section of the trade union movement. This has been accompanied by horrific levels of violence against women. We call on the whole movement to support women organising against this.

Agreed

Motion 11. Schools

Left Unity demands full funding for our schools and a radical overhaul of the curriculum to make it more child friendly.

Agreed

Motion 12. Trade unions

Left Unity recognises the power and huge potential of trade unions in defending working people and urges socialists to organise at work.

Agreed

Motion 13. The NHS

Left Unity recognises the NHS as one of the last remaining gains of the generation that defeated fascism, and of the 1945 Labour Government, and supports the work of those fighting to restore it.

Agreed

Motion 14. Freeports, data and AI

Left Unity recognises and will continue to work against the danger of the free ports and special economic zones and of huge data centres and the growth of far right control over AI.

Agreed

Note: On the same day as our conference, Your Party held a CEC meeting and ruled out many parties and groups from being associated with Your Party, so our decision to request this status will require some discussion with Your Party and our members. Meanwhile we ask our members, and friends of Left Unity, to support socialist independents and Your Party candidates in the May Elections.