Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

It is goodbye to Jacob Rees-Mogg, Liz Truss and all the other Tories, and good riddance. It was a landslide but, as one commentator said, it was a loveless landslide. There seems to be little or no enthusiasm for Starmer's Government. It is true that it win 9.6 million votes compared that with the 13.8 million and 10.2 million won under Corbyn in 2017 and 2019. The vote for Reform UK is a warning. It may only have won five seats but it came second in more than 100 constituencies, garnering more than 4 million votes overall. This party of racist little Englanders will try to pose as a radical alternative to the British Government. It is not radical alternative, but it will pose as one on the right. There needs to be a genuine radical alternative on the left, particularly when disillusionment with the Starmer Government hits and turns to anger. There needs to be an alternative which campaigns to save the National Health Service, on the cost-of-living issues, which stands up for the rights of the people in Gaza and for people in Britain who are transgender. I sincerely hope that Jeremy Corbyn and some of the new pro-Palestinian MPs can take initiatives which help to bring such an alternative about. It is a bit more of a statement than a question but I will leave it at that.

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