Will Leicester Politicians Now Support Greek’s Historic No Vote

On Sunday the people of Greece made their intentions clear by overwhelming rejecting austerity in their national referendum. The No campaign exceeded all expectations and stormed to victory, securing 61% of the popular vote. The Greek working class are showing that austerity can be resisted giving workers across Europe hope.

Local TUSC candidate, Damon Gibbons, who recently visited Athens as part of Debt Action Group said:

“The Greek people have, once more, delivered a resounding verdict against austerity. If Europe were a democracy then yesterday’s ‘No’ vote would surely result in the Troika offering new terms: writing down the Greek debt and ceasing its demands for further privatisations and public spending cuts. But this is unlikely to happen. The Troika, wary of possible ‘contagion’ in Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Ireland, will resist any deviation from the position that all debts, no matter how incurred or how damaging the repayments, must be recovered. Fear is changing sides.”

Last week nineteen Labour Party MP’s including Jeremy Corbyn published an open letter in the Guardian calling upon David Cameron “to agree debt cancellation for Greece and other countries that need it,…by recovering money from the banks and financial speculators who were the real beneficiaries of bailouts.”

TUSC parliamentary candidate for Leicester South, Andrew Walton said:

“With recent newspaper reports proving how the people of Leicester are suffering disproportionately from austerity, the connection between the attacks on the working-class in Greece and those in Leicester couldn’t be clearer. I want to know why our city’s three Labour MP’s are not openly showing solidarity with the people of Greece.”

“The former governor of the European Central Bank, Leicester University’s Professor Panicos Demetriades signed a similar letter that was featured in the Financial Times, so why are Leicester MP’s so timid? In contrast to the Labour Party, TUSC candidates across the country, have been united in doing everything possible to support the no vote in Greece, and in calling upon the Syriza government to carry out the anti-austerity mandate given to it by Greek voters. TUSC applaud the decision of the Greek people to reject austerity. This means refusing to pay the debt, imposing capital controls against the markets, and nationalising the key sectors of the economy under democratic workers control and management.”