THE labour movement must “get militant” to deliver for working people and to combat the far right, the Morning Star Scottish spring conference heard today.

Scottish TUC general secretary Roz Foyer made the remarks before conference launched into a session on gentrification and the ongoing housing crisis in Scotland.

Former housing officer Jim Whiston told conference of the damage done by the council stock transfers of the Blair era and the loss of democratic accountability it delivered, a process which compounded Thatcher’s policy of breaking council housing as a centre of resistance.

Eleanor Hutson, from Glasgow’s Wyndford tenants, told of their campaign to repel the demolition of 600 flats to replace them with 340 homes for social and 60 at mid-market rent.

The campaign ranges from building alliances with sympathetic architects to holding a referendum in the estate — garnering 70 per cent support to stop the scheme.

Despite the demolitions already underway, she spoke of notable wins, including safer demolition plans and better offers for those displaced by the scheme.

But she vowed that the fight to win 600 homes for rent to replace those lost would continue. 

Edinburgh Labour councillor Katrina Faccenda told comrades that the process of gentrification had a long history in her city, dating back to the creation of its New Town more than two centuries ago.

She warned the council was “not a good landlord” and had a great deal more to do to raise standards and move on from the expensive policy of property buyback — which had cost £1 billion to build just 330 homes — to ramping-up building in a city long blighted by high rent.

Hope Not Hate’s Rab O’Donnell and Unison’s Stephanie Martin addressed fighting the rise of Reform UK.

They outlined Reform UK leader Nigel Farage’s agenda which, despite lacking anything that would materially benefit the working class, was winning votes through disillusionment with the Tories, Labour and the SNP.

A workshop session saw comrades discuss how best to repel the far-right threat, focusing on matters such as affordable housing and local activism rather than dismissing Reform voters and supporters with a blanket accusation of racism.