In December, I helped to get a motion passed into Cardiff University Students Union policy, mandating it to lobby the university to ‘open the books’ to its finances, stop academic cuts by using its hundreds of millions of pounds of reserves, and campaign against cuts.
Cardiff University announced 400 job cuts in 2025 to fill a supposed £30 million deficit in its budget. Job cuts have since been reduced to 286, thanks to campaigning from trade unions, academics, and students.
Socialist Students’ president candidate Aris Prevost voiced these demands in the student union (SU) election last spring. He gained 340 votes, however, did not win.
Not to be put off, Socialist Students successfully backed me in the autumn SU elections this academic year, and I was elected to the Student Senate, the SU’s policymaking body.
Our anti-cuts motion was passed by Senate, with 88% of the vote – mandating the elected full-time sabbatical team of the student union. Another three motions are due to be voted on by Senate in February.
Hertfordshire Socialist Students joined a collective of local organisations opposing racism, marching through the town, under the banner of ‘Herts Not Hate’. We were responding to rising anti-refugee and anti-migrant action in Hertfordshire, where several temporary accommodation hotels are located.
As we build for the Socialist Students conference on 14 February in Manchester, Herts Socialist Students is focused on strengthening links with organised workers locally, and highlighting the role students play in community action.
I spoke at the rally on behalf of Herts Socialist Students. I also shared the success of a recent sit-in by two Herts Socialist Students in defence of a Gazan university applicant, who had initially been unfairly denied an offer. As a result of the action, the university met our demands, and the applicant has now been offered a place at the University of Hertfordshire.
The speech by Morgan Tritton, Hertfordshire Socialist Students
“Students of Hertfordshire and the workers of Hertfordshire, fighting together against austerity, war, and all forms of oppression.
Higher education is in crisis. And Labour’s answer is just to push the costs onto us – the students and staff, while the rich get richer.
So, Socialist Students is saying we want to take the wealth off the super-rich, and put it to use. Fund education properly, abolish tuition fees, cancel student debt, and bring back real maintenance grants that rise with inflation.
And make education a public right, not a privilege or a big business. We’ve shared this message of ‘Funding Not Fees’ across campus.
And, in the last year, we have got considerable backing from the students. Starting with just four [Socialist Student members at Herts] last year, we’re now at nearly 100.
Our major campaign in the last year has been to end sexism and violence against women on campus. By ensuring prevention, training, and awareness is in place. But also signposting and support for victims is properly funded.
We passed a motion in student council to fight for this. But the university has responded with apathy and even refusal to back down from their non-compliance in providing quality anti-harassment and sexual misconduct training to all students.”
A US Federal agent shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis, USA on 7 January. Videos widely circulated online show Renee using her car to block a road in the city, in solidarity with her neighbours, to obstruct immigration raids carried out by ICE.
Already this autumn, tens of thousands of school students in North Carolina walked out in protest. This latest brutal killing will spur more protests. Under Trump’s instructions, ICE agents terrorise working-class neighbourhoods and workplaces across the US. Workers are organising to defend their communities and co-workers.
And the cost-of-living squeeze for ordinary Americans grinds on. No president has ever become so unpopular so quickly. Trump has already faced the two biggest single-day protests in US history.
Already this year, Trump has kidnapped the Venezuelan President and threatened to take ownership of Greenland – both blatant attempts to pursue US capitalist interests. Including the pursuit of access to oil ahead of their biggest rival, China. The plunge towards deeper climate crisis continues.
Beyond his so-called ‘backyard’, Trump has threatened intervention into Iran. Mass protests have erupted, fuelled by a rising cost of living and the brutal experience of a repressive regime. Reportedly thousands have been killed by state forces, including 23-year-old student Rubina Aminian, shot in the back of the head at close range.
Youth and workers in Iran can in no way rest hopes on a Trump intervention to help them to pursue their aims. They must get organised to settle their own scores with the theocratic regime.
Trump’s second presidency is an accelerator of world instability and crisis. The world is simmering with uprisings and protests – including those led by youth and students, so called ‘Gen Z protests’, bringing down governments and regimes in Nepal, Madagascar and Bulgaria, for example. Millions have protested against the Israeli state’s slaughter in Gaza, including those who took part in a general strike in Italy in September.
When the red carpet was rolled out for Trump at Windsor Castle by Keir Starmer in September, Socialist Students helped to organise school and college walkouts. Building our own struggles of workers and young people, including a new workers’ party to challenge Starmer’s Labour and fight for a decent future for young people in Britain, is the most effective act of solidarity young people and students take with those fighting for change internationally.
If you’re angry at Trump and Starmer, and the capitalist crisis they represent – get organised!
Come to Socialist Students conference in Manchester
The Socialist Students annual conference is taking place in Manchester on 14 February. Members will be voting on the adoption of a new constitution, as well as debating the role we can play, fighting for socialist ideas in the student movement.
The huge enthusiasm for Corbyn and Sultana’s Your Party in the summer, and for Zack Polanski’s leadership of the Green Party shows the huge appetite for socialist ideas. This conference will help us sharpen our understanding of the political processes taking place, and prepare us for the opportunities and challenges of getting stuck into the struggles ahead.
The capitalist system offers no way forward for young people. In fact, by trying to look after the profits of the bosses, governments like Keir Starmer’s are attacking young and working-class people. We anticipate significant student movements in the coming years, and want Socialist Students to be prepared to play a role in leading those struggles.
We have already tested our ability to lead youth movements by organising hundreds of students walking out against Trump in September, when Starmer’s government and the King rolled out the red carpet for the president.
We want to get as many students as possible, prepared to help get organised and fight for socialist ideas, to come to this conference.
In Birmingham, we have organised to hire a people carrier to get our Socialist Students members to Manchester. There are a few benefits of this over individual transport. First, it is slightly cheaper for each passenger to pay their share for car hire than to buy a train ticket. Second, attendees are more likely to make a firm commit to come if they pay up front to confirm their place with us, rather than facing the additional and more expensive hurdle of having to organise their own transport. Third, it will give us a chance to discuss politics and the proposed constitution together on the journey.
Our activities on campus will include leafleting and organising our usual fortnightly meetings. These meetings focus on issues which students are engaged in. Our first meeting back after Christmas is discussing Trump’s abduction of Nicolás Maduro, and the character of the Chavez-Maduro governments.
Another practical measure we have taken is creating and updating a beautifully colour-coded spreadsheet of contacts gathered from meetings and stalls this year. In the coming weeks we will be contacting all 80+ names on the spreadsheet to encourage them to come along to the conference.
I encourage all to push for maximum participation in this conference, reaching out to every student we have met this year, including members of other socialist-adjacent student societies, to get as broad a layer of youth along as possible. Building strong foundations for us to play a role in futures struggles of youth and students.
Penelope Dawber, Preston Socialist Students
Preston Socialist Students members at University of Lancashire (UCLan) and Cardinal Newman College are working extremely hard to prepare for Socialist Students conference. In just three short months, we have formed a society at the university and are on the way to one at the college. We have been out campaigning, including helping organise a counter-demo to a far-right organised anti-immigration protest.
But we’re not slowing down this new year! Ahead of the conference, some of us are going to the UCU strike at Lancaster and Morecambe College against unfair, below-inflation pay rises. We plan to speak to students about why they should support their teachers on strike, and join them in a fight for decent, fully funded education.
On 17 January, we are joining a march through Preston against the Reform council’s planned closure of several nurseries and care homes across Lancashire, organised by local authority trade union Unison. There we will be making a call for a workers’ budget conference in the city, to draw up a council budget that would meet the needs of our communities. We are also planning meetings to discuss the draft constitution documents for Socialist Students, to be voted on at the conference, including to discuss any comments or amendments that we wish to make.
We are going to advertise the conference with campaign stalls at the college and uni. Using our position as an official society, we will try to get the Students Union to advertise the conference.
When we hold our next meetings we will also be discussing transport down to the conference. Even though in Preston we are still only small, we are having a big impact, and our new members can be thanked for that!
Saturday 14 February 2026, 10am-5pm
University Place @ University of Manchester (176 Oxford Rd, Manchester M13 9PL)
As a new semester begins, millions of students in higher education continue to face the brunt of the cost-of-living crisis. Maintenance loans fall short of covering basic living costs, leaving many students struggling to meet essential expenses.
For most students, rent is the biggest cost. Student housing companies and private landlords drive up rents year on year, and the quality of the housing only gets worse. In many cities, students pay through the nose for small rooms in cramped, unsafe, and poorly maintained houses.
After rent, many students are forced to take on multiple part-time jobs to afford the rest, which has a direct impact on grades and wellbeing. The rising cost of groceries means students skip meals to save money. Financial pressure also has an impact on students’ mental health. Surveys show that 78% of students experience significant stress as a result of financial worries. Students are cutting back on socialising and extracurricular activities because they cannot afford to take part.
Furthermore, tuition fees will continue to rise every year, amounting to over £10,000 by the end of this government. This is a result of Starmer’s Labour government refusing to fund higher education, blaming the financial instability of universities on the previous tuition fee cap to justify forcing the costs onto millions of students.
Therefore, the frustration of students and young people must be directed into organising a socialist fightback. Socialist Students groups are organising demonstrations, supporting striking workers on pickets, and building support for socialist ideas on campuses. Socialist Students calls for fully funded, free education, instead of more fees and cuts.
This week from Wednesday 14 to Friday 16 January, members of the University and College Union (UCU) will be taking industrial action over funding, pay and conditions. College students face many issues due to the lack of funding. Our education suffers due to higher class sizes and overworked and underpaid staff. This is what striking UCU members are fighting against.
Socialist Students sends its full solidarity to all UCU members taking strike action and our members will be on the picket lines in support. We will stand alongside workers fighting back against the funding crisis to fight for the education we deserve.
Young people across the country are desperate to find decent jobs with pay they can live on. They are being forced to pay the price for the weakness of British capitalism and face the brunt of companies slowing down hiring and getting rid of some jobs altogether. The overall unemployment rate is now 5.1% and one in seven young people are unemployed.
What’s the response from the Labour government? Pat McFadden, work and pensions secretary, announced before Christmas that a scheme will be launched that will take benefits off young people who don’t have a “good reason” to take a six-month job placement funded by the state.
The government fully subsidising a job for 25 hours a week at minimum wage would be great for the bosses. They get effectively free labour for six months, with workers that are forced to be there otherwise they lose their benefits, and with no guarantee of a permanent full-time job at the end of it! It gives employers a more exploitable workforce, which can allow them to drive down the pay and conditions of all workers.
This would be a return to the ‘workfare’ policies of Tory prime minister David Cameron. As then, the current Labour government is attempting to force young people into jobs with inadequate pay and terrible conditions.
We should point the finger at those who are really responsible for the unemployment crisis – the big bosses! There’s no end of productive work that could be done if the work was shared out, and jobs were created with decent pay, training and conditions.
We demand:
High-quality jobs and apprenticeships with democratic trade union oversight and trade union rates of pay
Abolish zero-hour contracts with a right to flexible working
A trade union struggle for the immediate implementation of the TUC demand of a £15-an-hour minimum wage for all as a step towards a real living wage, without exemptions. For the minimum wage to automatically increase linked to average earnings or inflation, whichever is higher
The right of all workers, including apprentices, to join a trade union
The TUC (Trades Union Congress) should follow up on its conference decision and call a national demonstration for high-quality jobs, homes and services for all
Circuit Go provides poor-quality and expensive laundry services to many. Profits are up at Circuit Go – over £13 million in 2024.
One of Circuit Go’s parent shareholders – Cinven – was fined £100 million for increasing medicine prices by more than 1,000%. This means that the company that charges us extortionate fees to wash and dry our laundry is effectively owned by a firm that has been fined for price gouging critical drugs used by NHS patients.
How can we trust this company to provide us ‘fair’ prices for laundry services? They are ripping us off!
If we don’t get organised, then our universities will let this private company continue overcharging each of us £100s a year for the poor service they provide. Students are already struggling to make ends meet.
While profiteering companies rake millions every year, ordinary students are expected to pay higher tuition fees, extortionate rents, and rising shopping bills. It can’t go on like this.
‘Circuit No!’ campaign, launched by Socialist Students in London, brings students together. We can organise meetings in all the different university halls to democratically decide the next steps for the campaign. This includes protesting outside Cinven’s headquarters in central London.
Newcastle University, which also has a contract with Circuit Go, provides subsided laundry services at £1.30 per wash on weekdays. If a university can provide subsidised laundry facilities during certain hours at one particular hall, why can’t all universities in Britain, including Newcastle University, immediately provide laundry services at all times for £1 per wash?
We also demand that laundry should be included in rent, and for there to be rent controls. Rents should be set by democratically elected representatives, composed of students and staff. This body could also provide oversight for laundry services, repairs, and maintenance.
This means kicking out these private profiteers from our halls and campuses, and bringing all privatised services back in-house. We call for investment to provide high-quality, safe, and accessible accommodation, including to meet the specific needs of disabled students.
We can win!
Socialist Students also says this is part of a wider national campaign to oppose marketisation of higher education. Students are seen as cash cows – people that private companies can profit from.
That’s why we say kick out the profiteers. Don’t make students pay for the university funding crisis through higher tuition fees and poor service – make the super-rich pay.
We demand:
Higher-quality, well-maintained laundry facilities, and a suitable number of machines per flat
An immediate reduction of laundry fees to £1 per wash – not rip-off charges
Laundry to be included in rent, and rent controls in university accommodation
Kick out private profiteers, and bring all privatised services back in-house
No to fee rises, for free, fully funded education – make the super-rich pay
Help build the campaign
Sign our petition. Spread the word
Organise a meeting in your hall
Come to our London-wide organising meeting – Tuesday 3 February, 7pm. Venue TBC
Protest the company that owns Circuit Laundry – Wednesday 4 February, 3pm. Where: Cinven Limited, 21 St James’s Square, SW1Y 4JZ. Nearest station: Green Park
Socialist Students’ statement on Your Party conference
The long-awaited Your Party conference took place in Liverpool at the end of last month. Socialist Students members intervened within the conference, including speaking from the platform, and are looking forward to the opportunity to work within Your Party to fight for young people and socialism.
Despite the summer enthusiasm dwindling after 800k+ signed up to support Your Party, and only 22k of 55k members registering to vote, the mood at the conference represented the appetite for a new mass socialist alternative. Frustrations about how the conference was organised, and spats among the leadership, underpinned much of the debate and influenced how the voting went, with a feeling that this political project needs to work.
Socialist Students national organiser Adam Gillman spoke about the need for Your Party to be explicitly socialist and have “the working class at its heart”. The conference attendees subsequently overwhelmingly voted this way. However, the necessary democratic structures for a mass socialist party of the working class were not established last weekend.
For example, it is regrettable that an element of sortition will remain in place for the next conference – rather than a system of representative democracy which allows Your Party branches, as well as affiliated organisations such as trade unions and other groups, to send delegates.
Socialist Students also believes that Your Party won’t become a mass workers’ party without taking the question of the trade unions – the existing mass organisations of the working class – seriously. In order for that to happen, the relationship with trade unions needs not only to be reviewed (as another motion outlined), but there needs to be a priority of bringing the collective voice of the trade unions into the party, through affiliation, under the democratic control of its members. By not approaching the trade union rank-and-file and campaigning for their collective voice to be heard in Your Party, it only makes it easier for trade union leaders to continue dodging the question of political representation for the working class.
Ninety per cent of voters backed an amendment for needs-based council budgets, rejecting cuts and austerity. Contributions from the floor emphasised how committing to no cuts would distinguish Your Party from the Greens. Zack Polanski, the Greens’ leader, was asked by Socialist Students if he would commit to a similar stand – Zack refused to do so.
However, the conference also chose to limit the number of election candidates for May 2026, which misses the opportunity for a wide anti-austerity stand. Only this could cut across support for Reform UK in a meaningful way: standing socialists on a no-cuts platform in communities where working-class people, out of frustration, are voting for Reform. It is worth remembering that in 2017, 1 million + UKIP voters from 2015 voted for Jeremy Corbyn’s anti-austerity manifesto.
Your Party has the potential to harness the energy of young people and students. Many of us are already struggling for free education, against the cost-of-living crisis, for rent controls, and many other things.
Young people were enthused by Jeremy Corbyn’s time as Labour leader – precisely because of his anti-austerity message, and the pledge to scrap tuition fees. Polls over the summer suggested that Your Party was the most popular among young people – this is not a surprise, considering the popularity of Corbyn and the increasing number of young people looking for a way out and towards socialist ideas.
Along with immediately establishing branches, Your Party must develop a formal youth and student section. This party must allow youth to organise and debate the way forward for the problems facing us and the working class, such as the cost of living crisis and climate change.
The slim vote by conference for a collective leadership was positive. The Central Executive Committee (CEC) – made up of 16 normal members, rather than MPs – should have a seat reserved for a youth representative. This would allow young people to democratically elect a socialist to represent their views on the deciding body of the party. The CEC is also preferable to a single leader model as it helps create and develop new leaders rather than dependence on individuals, which without proper contingency plans, can lead to problems when someone needs to step down for whatever reason.
Socialist Students invites the current MPs for Your Party – Jeremy Corbyn, Zarah Sultana, Shockat Adam, and Ayoub Khan – to do a speaking tour of the universities in the new year. We would be happy to help facilitate these meetings, as an already existing broad socialist organisation on campuses, with groups across the country. These meetings could potentially be ‘launch events’ for a Your Party youth section.
Socialist Students looks forward to a reply from Your Party MPs and to be able to organise within an affiliated democratic youth section.
Socialist Students organised a demonstration with the York uni Your Party society, opposing the bursary cut put forward by the university management. The £1,000 cut affects working-class students and others, struggling to keep up with the cost-of-living crisis.
But it also affects medical students and refugee students, who also face severe cutbacks. Refugee students were receiving £3,000, as an incentive for higher education. Now it’s £2,000.
Medical students receiving a HYMS bursary would be getting £1,400 less for every year at university. For students with a residual household income of less than £25,000, they used to be eligible for £2,400 per year. Now it’s down to £1,000. This adds up to £7,000 of student entitlements over five years of study that is now completely missing!
At the protest, we had speakers from the University and College Union (UCU) and York Rent Strike 2025.
We all know that Labour is not going to pay a penny to fund universities, unless it is forced to under pressure. Student protest can build the pressure. So can the struggles of university workers, organised in their trade unions. A new mass workers’ party – fighting for free, fully funded education – would strengthen our fight too.
Socialist Students 