A student and former general election candidate from Reading spoke at the very first Your Party conference.
Adam Gillman, 19, who is from the Reading area, attended the conference at the Arena and Conference Centre (ACC) in Liverpool.
He was one of the first 15 speakers at the conference, with his first speech taking place in a debate on the inclusion of ‘the working class’ in the party’s political statement.
Speaking in favour of its inclusion, Mr Gillman said: “Why? Because the working class is the vast majority of society, and without the working class, no real turns!
“We wouldn’t have the NHS without the working class; it wasn’t a nice Labour government that got us the NHS and got the trade unions legalised, no, it was working class struggle!
“If we take the working class out of that, I guarantee you, it will be much more easier for right-wing saboteurs to come into our party to try and get rid of any mention of the working class and make their lives worse.
“We are fighting against austerity, against 15 years of cuts to our services, against war, against climate change, against many issues.
“And, you know who isn’t affected by those issues? It is not the capitalists, the ruling class, who are affected by these issues, the banks, the billionaires, no!
“It’s working class people who are working to feed their families who are fighting back against all this misery that’s put on them, all these attacks.
“Let’s be clear, Reform is pretending to be in favour of the working class, and they will whip up any division they can to the wider working class communities.”
Ultimately, members agreed to include a reference to ‘the working class’ in its ‘evolved’ Political Statement.
The relevant line states: “Our task is to build a mass party for the many, rooted in the broadest possible social alliance, with the working class at its heart.”
Mr Gillman has already made a name for himself as one of the youngest parliamentary candidates in the 2024 general election.
He stood for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition for the Reading Central constituency, receiving 221 votes.
Mr Gillman supported members of Your Party holding memberships of other left-wing organisations, as he is a member of Your Party and the Socialist Party.
In a second speech, he called for Your Party to support a No Cuts People’s Budget, which he advocated for as a parliamentary candidate.
Mr Gillman said: “[It’s] important that we stand on a no cuts platform, on a platform we’re fighting for a needs-based no cuts budget that’s the official position of the local authority unions of Unite, Unison and GMB.”
He added that Liverpool council was successfully able to push for £60 million from Margaret Thatcher, the ‘Iron Lady’ in the 1980s.
Mr Gillman quipped: “Let’s be honest, [Sir Keir] Starmer is not even an iron ingot!”
The Your Party conference took place on November 29-30.
Mr Gillman attended the inaugural meeting of the Reading branch of Your Party last month.
