Polly Smythe

At Novara, my job is to cover the critical work being done by workers and the labour movement. The best part of my job is talking to people about their jobs, bosses, and unions. Send me tips, stories, or just hellos, to [email protected], my DMs, or Signal

While Gaza starves, the NHS crumbles & billionaires hoard wealth—Starmer's priority is scapegoating migrants & fuelling far-right hate. Migrant workers graft for a pittance building the businesses Britain runs on. We’ll keep building a united movement—against Enoch Powellism!

Difficult to find words to express my disgust at this performative cruelty of this Needless to say it will put couriers' lives at risk – gig economy workers have already been directly targeted by far-right violence

📢Strike action for resident doctors in England starts Friday (25th July) 📍All picket lines are up on @strike_map 💪Plan your day and share with friends, family and colleagues - we need everyone to show their support for #PayRestoration #DoctorsStrike strikemap.org

John Hendy's amendment to the Employment Rights Bill to legalise solidarity action returns to the Lords on Wednesday. Five unions have issued this statement in support of it (it was also backed by PCS). The whole labour movt must support this demand. See freeourunions.org/2025/07/19/joh…

Well done to everyone involved in the @orgreavejustice campaign in winning a public inquiry into the events at Orgreave in June 1984. It’s been a long hard road, and their absolute determination is to be massively applauded. (1/3)

Shocking to see @BrianLeishmanMP suspended from Labour Party for standing by the workforce at Grangemouth oil refinery. He was sticking to promises the government broke when it let the refinery close and hundreds of skilled workers to be made redundant. bbc.com/news/articles/…

Hundreds of workers at the Hinkley Point C nuclear construction site in Somerset have staged a wildcat strike in protest against alleged bullying by the project’s supervisors ⁦@BUIRAonline⁩ theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/j…

The Labour party faces allegations that it rigged an election in order to block a leftwing candidate from leading a council. Here's @pollysmythe with an anatomy of an unedifying debacle: novaramedia.com/2025/07/17/how…

The suspension of four Labour MPs is outrageous and authoritarian. Our response:

Dozens of police and immigration enforcement currently at Old Street are pulling over deliveroo drivers and people of colour going past and checking their status. Aggressive ICE style tactics in the centre of London.

Serving the country means those at the top of this Government have to own their own mistakes, rather than keep suspending MPs who stand up for the vulnerable and working-class people. As long as Labour would rather take on their own, rather than those who are not paying their…

DAY 1 OF STRIKE (!!) 🔥✊ First picket of the week outside EY Offices in Canary Wharf ! ⚠️Cleaners working at EY offices are on strike against the billion pound firm, demanding an end to EY’s proposed redundancies which would leave 37% of cleaners without a job.⚠️

Good morning. Today is the first day of the TUC's biggest coordinated workplace inspection yet! More than 1,000 union health and safety reps are inspecting working temperatures.

Unite has voted to support workers who refuse to handle Israeli weapons. Is this the first step towards an ‘arms embargo from below?’ @PollySmythe reports. novaramedia.com/2025/07/14/uni…

The Palestine Solidarity bloc making its way down Claypath & into the Market Place. The Big Meeting has a long tradition of standing together against oppression & injustice around the world, and we extend our solidarity to those speaking out against genocide.