Laura Smith, the Labour MP for Crewe and Nantwich, has called for a general strike to help bring down the Conservative government – if there isn’t a general election.
She spoke at Momentum organised The World Transformed festival, which is running alongside the Labour Party conference in Liverpool.
A general strike is when workers from across industries take action collectively in large numbers.
Labour MP Laura Smith calls for a general strike to bring down the Government (if there’s no General Election) and gets a standing ovation #lab18 pic.twitter.com/Bn4Ye5Zy3Q
— Rob Powell (@robpowellnews) September 25, 2018
The last one in the UK happened in 1926, in support of coal miners who had been locked out of their mines after a dispute with the owners.
The room stood up and erupted in applause – including her fellow speakers on stage, who included shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon, shadow work and pensions secretary Margaret Greenwood and the MPs Lloyd Russell-Moyle, Dan Carden, Chris Williamson, Cat Smith and Emma Dent Coad – all of whom apart from Burgon, Greenwood and Carden had already made their speeches.
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell and shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey had also previously addressed the rally but had left the stage by this point.
Smith has a majority of 48 in the seat she won off former Conservative minister Edward Timpson last year – a tiny margin that she referred to in her speech.
Her idea for a general strike if Labour is unable to secure a general election will come as a surprise to both the party leadership and its members, who came to a very carefully worded agreement earlier in the conference to keep the prospect of backing a second referendum on the table in the absence of a general election.
