Cumbrian socialists will screen a film documenting the Portuguese revolution as they continue their campaign against Keir Starmer’s ‘austerity 2.0’.

At their next meeting on Monday, September 16, at the South End Club on St Nicholas Street, Carlisle, the Cumbrian Socialist Party branch will screen Viva Portugal which shows fly-on-the-wall footage of the Portuguese revolution, known in Portuguese as the Revolução dos Cravos, or in English as the Carnation Revolution, that happened on April 25, 1974.

It’s part of an ongoing campaign against what the Socialist Party reps have called Starmer’s ‘austerity 2.0’, as a spokesperson from the Cumbrian branch argued that when people reference the ‘£22billion black hole’ or claim there is no money for restoring living standards and public services, it is essential to point out that the richest 50 families in Britain own £500billion, equivalent to the wealth of half the population.

They questioned why Labour has chosen to cut the Winter Fuel Payment from 10million pensioners for a minor saving of £1.2billion, implying that the decision was a calculated move to send a harsh message to trade union leaders and the working class, essentially telling them not to expect anything from the party.

“As Starmer has already said, ‘things are going to get worse’.

“True, he did add ‘before they get better’, but under his party, they are not and will not.

“The expected economic boost under a new, ‘competent’ government hasn’t materialised, with no growth in the last two months. In July only services grew 0.1 per cent, but construction and production fell by 0.4 per cent and 0.8 per cent,” the spokesperson said.

Without significant public investment, Labour’s focus on ‘economic stability’ and ‘growth’ would be unfulfilled because British capitalists are not reinvesting profits, instead opting to hoard them through large dividend payouts, they added.

They concluded: “Workers will have to fight this government and big business to improve wages, benefits and services through their unions and by building a new workers’ party.

“We’ll be drawing the lessons of (Viva Portugal), asking questions and explaining why it all happened, at our meeting on Monday, all are welcome.”