Yesterday’s elections mark more than just another political contest. They are a warning that far-right ideology in the UK is growing in strength, and no longer operating from the fringes. The UK’s political landscape is in sync with a much broader global trend. From Modi’s India and Netanyahu’s Israel to Trump’s United States, authoritarian politics is on the rise. And here in the UK, we are seeing its impact close to home, especially in the NHS, our public services, and the rights of migrants.
As a health-justice movement, we see how the consequences of this shift to the far right are already playing out – in our hospitals, and our communities.
Only in the past year, the far right in the UK gained momentum both through racist policies and street violence. As the Illegal Migration Act 2023 further criminalised asylum seekers, it intensified anti-migrant rhetoric, which in turn contributed to a wave of violence over the summer, culminating in the pogroms on Brown and Muslim communities in cities including Southport and Rotherham.
At the same time, the rise in far-right violence has sparked a powerful resistance. Anti-fascist rallies sprung up across the UK, with people taking to the streets. Whether in Liverpool, Sheffield or London, communities stood up to the far right, showing that solidarity is stronger than hate.
How the far right is already attacking health and migrant justice
This swing to the far right at home follows years of hard-right, violent policies. Take the hostile environment policies that introduce immigration controls into the NHS, meaning migrants are charged for vital healthcare that should be their right. We have seen people turned away from care or too afraid to seek treatment because of immigration checks. In many cases, even urgent care is being delayed or denied. This isn’t theoretical. It is a policy with deadly consequences.
Meanwhile, we’ve seen health workers targeted for speaking out. As Israel continues its bombardment of Gaza, the new Labour government has increased arms sales while here in the UK criminalising expressions of solidarity with Palestinians. Health workers calling for a free Palestine have been disciplined, silenced, and surveilled. And we know that an attack on health workers’ voices is really an attack on the right to care and collective safety.
These attacks on health workers are often masked as efforts to combat ‘terrorism’ – a continuation of the Prevent policy over the last decade, which encourages health and other public workers to surveille the people they serve based on vague, racist criteria. Again, we know this serves to prevent already-marginalised communities from accessing the healthcare they need. These policies, rooted in suspicion and exclusion, have further enabled parties like Reform UK to propose yet more healthcare and social reforms that would further entrench inequality.
Reform UK’s pledge to give tax relief to private healthcare and insurance providers would effectively pave the way for increased privatisation of the NHS. While cloaked in promises of “efficiency” and “zero waiting lists”, such measures shift public health into the hands of profit-driven companies. As health workers, we know firsthand that chronic underfunding is what’s hurting the NHS. But pledging to expand the use of surveillance, ramp up military spending and cut social housing – while scapegoating migrants for systemic failings – won’t solve any crises. It will only worsen them.
Their manifesto also advocates for expanding landlord rights, which will only worsen already dire housing conditions. Greater powers for landlords will deepen inequality and make it even harder for people to live in healthy homes.
Let’s be clear: putting more money into the pockets of private companies and landlords will not make us safer or healthier. It will only widen the economic and social divisions – we know it, and we will fight against it!
Solidarity works – and we need more of it, now!
The good news is that community action works. One clear example of this is our recent work with residents of the Nags Head Estate in London.
Medact London’s work on their report, Nags Head Estate: Tenants’ Experiences of Unhealthy Homes, shows how solidarity and collective action helps to uncover the links between the exploitative housing system and a slew of serious health among residents. In the face of the Peabody housing association’s failure to address the damp and mold affecting children and families, the community and health workers stood together – and the pressure is working!
Through months of building community, direct action and nagging, the Nags Head Tenants Association, working together with local health workers, brought national attention to the neglect of their estate. This led to Peabody providing additional funds, making small improvements, committing to change, and tenants are now demanding lasting structural repairs.
Another example is the solidarity between health workers and patients with each other and Palestinians in the No Palantir in the NHS campaign. Palantir’s access to sensitive NHS data threatens the very foundation of our public health system, opening the door to the kind of surveillance and control we see in Israel and the United States. And Palantir is an active proponent of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Health Workers for a Free Palestine and No Palantir in the NHS campaign groups have sprung up all over the country, united in saying that this company has no place in our health service. The fight against Palantir is not just about data; it’s about resisting militarised violence, and defending a truly universal healthcare, free from private interests and authoritarian control.
That is what solidarity looks like in action. It’s not about waiting for a political party to fix things – it’s about people coming together to demand better.
And remember – the far right wants us to feel alone, powerless, and afraid. But we are neither alone nor without tools to push back. Across the UK, health workers, patients, migrants, tenants, organisers for justice of all kinds, are already pushing back. From resisting the hostile environment in our hospitals, to defending our privacy and our homes, to standing in solidarity with the Palestinians, we are part of an enduring and growing movement for health justice.
These struggles remind us that we should never accept a future in which people fear each other. Instead, we can build a future founded on care, solidarity, and justice. So don’t mourn ground lost to the far right – join the resistance! Health is political. So is solidarity. Let’s turn both into tools for a just world!
How to get involved?
Don’t miss the Who Benefits? online event on 14th May – an important conversation on how health is tied to political and economic systems.
For those new to our movement, we’ll be holding a Medact New Joiners Meeting on 28th May, where you can find out more about our work and how you can get involved.
And on Saturday 7th June, join Medact at the Welfare Not Warfare national demonstration in London. We’ll be marching as a health worker bloc to say that we want a society built on care, not cages. Homes, not handcuffs. Healthcare, not warfare.
Let’s build a society rooted in justice and solidarity, not fear.
