Leading English socialist says ‘Irish comrades’ have strayed from working class roots

Peter Taaffe says focus has switched to women’s and gay rights as unions are abandoned

A prominent English socialist figure has accused the Irish Socialist Party of giving up on the working class to focus on the rights of women and LGBTQ people.

The Irish Socialist Party includes three TDs – Paul Murphy, Mick Barry and Ruth Coppinger – who are also members of the Solidarity-People Before Profit party.

It has come under fire from Peter Taaffe, the general secretary of the Socialist Party of England and Wales, ...