Simon Midgley reports from a vibrant conference in Yorkshire 

On Saturday 10th May, over 200 people attended a public meeting to launch the People’s Alliance for Change and Equality in Huddersfield. Speakers at the rally included: Liverpool Councillor Alan Gibbons, ex-Labour MP Claudia Webbe, Independent MP for Dewsbury and Batley Iqbal Mohammed, ex-Northeast Labour Mayor Jamie Driscoll, ex-Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn, and former leader of the Respect Party Salma Yaqoob.

PACE is a new local campaigning organisation that is linking up campaigns against council cuts, pro-Palestine and anti-racism activists, along with local Independent MPs and socialists to coordinate action across the borough of Kirklees.

Some of the speakers talked of the need to build a new left wing party to challenge and oppose the rise of Reform and fight the Starmer government. All were agreed that local Independent socialists and community activists must come together as a united national movement against cuts, austerity, racism and war. There is growing discontent with Starmer’s Labour government, as evidenced in the local elections earlier this month, and a sense that we cannot allow Reform to be the beneficiary of this mood. 

There were no local elections in Kirklees this year, but all 69 Council seats are up for re-election in 2026, and PACE is looking to stand local grassroots activist candidates. This is part of a development across England, and the success of those like the Preston Independents on May 1 shows the potential.