Shockat Adam didn’t just beat Jon Ashworth. He’s become a real progressive leader, too.

Shockat Adam isn’t just the optometrist who helped to free Leicester from Jon Ashworth. He’s also been a consistent opponent of Israeli war crimes and prime minister Keir Starmer’s elitist government. And as part of the Independent Alliance alongside Jeremy Corbyn, he’s become a real progressive leader in parliament.

Following the awful Spring Statement last week, he joined a number of prominent progressive figures in calling for an alternative to Labour Party austerity by signing a Dignity Declaration. This highlighted rising living costs and deepening poverty urgent crises, criticising the political establishment for letting society’s richest people “off the hook” and shielding them from the supposedly “tough choices” of austerity. Adam told the Canary:

The country needs a real change of direction. People didn’t vote for cuts to disability benefit, or the winter fuel allowance or keeping the two child benefit cap. The government’s own figures show three million families will be worse off as a result of the spring statement, with the poorest hit hardest. The chasm between the rich and poor is ever widening and is unsustainable for a safe and secure future for our country. The ‘Dignity Declaration’ shows a different way, starting with taxing the wealthiest to rebuild public services and I am very happy to put my name to it.

Shockat Adam: “Labour are betraying the people who voted for change”

Shockat Adam had also said last week that:

The Labour government talks about change and bringing growth, but its actions mean more of the same failed austerity and stalled growth.

He added that:

While the super-rich see their wealth growing as they gobble up public and private assets, ordinary families worry how to pay their rent and mortgages, meet the ever increasing cost of energy and water and see their public services turn to squalor.

To end “this cycle of austerity and despair”, he said, parliament should be “taxing the wealthiest to raise the billions needed for public services and infrastructure investment”. But instead, he emphasised that:

Labour are betraying the people who voted for change last year. We simply cannot afford another four years of more of the same.

The Dignity Declaration and increasing unity on the left

Last week’s declaration could help to pave the way for greater unity among progressives, which is sorely needed right now. As it stressed:

The government claims there is no money to lift people out of poverty, yet it finds billions for war and weapons. This isn’t about scarcity—it’s about priorities. And their priorities are clear: no money for us all, endless money for war.

To “shape our world based on human need, not corporate greed”, it called for:

properly taxing multinational corporations and those with assets over £10 million so we can rebuild our schools and hospitals… bringing in rent controls to tackle the housing emergency… ending the disaster of privatisation in energy, water, rail and healthcare… protecting our planet by standing up to fossil fuel giants and building a new green energy system… [and] investing in welfare, not warfare.

The Dignity Declaration comes amid numerous local and national initiatives on the left that in many cases are coordinating to help build a network that could eventually present a real challenge to the political dominance of the blue and red wings of the UK corporate party. And despite Shockat Adam being a newcomer to mainstream politics, he’s already made a very positive contribution to that struggle.

Featured image via the Canary