The following resolutions passed unanimously at StW’s AGM

14 March 2026

 

National Officers resolution: Defend the Right to Protest

 

Conference notes:

  • According to legal reform charity Justice, ‘The right to protest is facing its most serious assault in decades, as sweeping new laws continually hand police additional powers to suppress public assembly’.
  • For a generation legislation has aimed at curtailing civil liberties. This includes the 1984 Public and Criminal Evidence Act, the 1986 Public Order Act, the 1994 Criminal Justice Act, the 2000 Terrorism Act, the 2022 Public, Crime, Sentencing, and Courts Act, and the 2023 Public Order Act.
  • New laws going through Parliament in 2026 will be the most draconian yet.
  • The government has extended the definition of terrorism to include those involved in civil disobedience campaigns, specifically Palestine Action. The Metropolitan Police and other forces have used their expanded power to increase arrests for terrorism offences by over 600 per cent. If all those arrested were to be successfully prosecuted, the UK would have more political prisoners than Russia.

Conference believes: 

  • That the defence of civil liberties was a founding principle of the StWC.
  • Every imperial adventure abroad is accompanied by new restrictions on civil liberties at home.
  • The officers of StWC, PSC, and CND have been specifically targeted by the state, and many of our members have faced arrest and conviction.

Conference resolves:

  • To continue to make the defence of civil liberties a central activity of the StWC.
  • To defend our national officers and those of PSC and CND from attempts to convict them of public order offences.
  • To make common cause with those in Palestine Action who face prosecution for peaceful direct action.
  • To make common cause with those in the Muslim community who face legal persecution for anti-war activity.
  • To embed this campaign in the trade union movement who also face similar threats to the right to organise and the right to strike.

National Officers resolution: Opposition British Foreign Policy

 

Conference notes:

  • The Trump administration has embarked on a rampage of aggression that is imperilling the entire world.
  • It has launched a barbaric and illegal attack with Israel on Iran (including murdering its leader) and Lebanon, kidnapped the President of Venezuela, bombed Yemen and Nigeria and is trying to bring down the government in Cuba. It has also threatened Panama, Colombia and Greenland. It has embarked on an intensification of the nuclear arms race.
  • Trump continues the Biden administration policy of full support for Israeli genocide of the Palestinian people and its attacks on neighbouring states. His hand-picked ‘Board of Peace’ aims to replace the United Nations and serve as an instrument of his aggression and self-aggrandisement.
  • All this is aimed at reversing the relative decline of US imperialism, particularly in the face of China’s growing strength, and securing a new redivision of power and profit in the world to its advantage. It threatens a third world war.
  • Keir Starmer has committed the British government to support for this reckless and bloody policy. All his professed support for international law disappears in the face of Washington’s illegalities. He is craven in his appeasement of Trump when he is not actually joining in with his wars.
  • Instead of aligning with most of the world in condemning this war drive, Britain backs the aggressors. This policy also threatens to beggar the British people with entirely unsustainable and unnecessary increases in military spending, on a scale which will make urgent social improvements all-but impossible.
  • The government also works to prolong the dangerous conflict in Ukraine and to engage in military provocations directed towards China in the Far East.
  • This is all accompanied by a war psychosis designed to condition the population to the inevitability of an impending great power war.
  • Starmer’s aim is to ensure Britain a privileged place in the reshaped world order which the USA is trying to impose, which includes supporting far-right parties across Europe, Britain included.

Conference resolves:

  • That Stop the War’s priority remains breaking this alliance and forcing the British government onto a path of support for international peace and disarmament, including exiting NATO.
  • To demand an end to all support for Israel, and to fight for freedom and justice for the Palestinian people.
  • To demand welfare not warfare and an end to the militarisation of the economy.
  • To oppose the aggressions against Iran, Lebanon, Venezuela, Cuba and elsewhere.
  • To support an urgent end to the Russia-Ukraine war and oppose the deployment of British troops there.

National Officers resolution: Building the Stop the War coalition in the current period

 

Conference notes:

  • That we are living through a period of escalating imperialist conflict, militarisation and war.
  • From the ongoing genocide in Gaza, devastation in Ukraine to rising tensions involving China, Iran and Latin America, the world is becoming more dangerous for working-class people everywhere.
  • Governments are responding with increased military spending, arms sales and attacks on civil liberties at home.
  • That the British state is playing an active role in this process, through NATO expansion, weapons exports, and political and military support for wars abroad.
  • At the same time, we are being told there is ‘no money’ for public services, pay or welfare, while billions are poured into the war machine. Racism, Islamophobia and the scapegoating of refugees are being used to justify these policies and divide opposition.
  • That more than ever there is an urgent need for a broad, united, mass anti-war movement capable of mobilising large numbers of people against war and militarism.
  • The Stop the War Coalition has historically played a crucial role in bringing together trade unionists, students, campaigners and communities to oppose imperialist war.
  • In the current period, rebuilding and strengthening Stop the War is essential to providing a national focus for anti-war resistance.

Conference resolves: 

  • To support and actively build the Stop the War Coalition by promoting its meetings, demonstrations and campaigns; encouraging activists and organisations to affiliate; and raising anti-war arguments within the labour movement, student movement and wider society.
  • To commit to linking opposition to war with struggles against austerity, racism and attacks on democratic rights, and to argue for international solidarity from below.
  • For all members to play an active role in rebuilding a visible, confident and effective anti-war movement capable of challenging the drive to war and militarism in the period ahead.

Carol Turner resolution: No war on Iran, No British bases for US attacks

 

Conference notes:

  • Large-scale bombing of Iran has resulted in the destruction of schools, hospitals and other civilian infrastructure and a mounting death toll, including over 160 schoolgirls and staff killed in a missile strike on a primary school.
  • Nuclear, military, and energy facilities have been targeted, and political and religious leaders assassinated.
  • Trump’s current statements about US war objectives are in line with Presidential Memorandum PM/NS2 (4/02/2025) which directed US agencies to initiate a ‘maximum pressure’ campaign, with the aim of preventing Iran developing nuclear weapons, ending its ballistic missiles programme, and closing down its support for proxy groups in the region, and
  • Trump and Netanyahu are calling for regime change.
  • Hezbollah has engaged with Israel in Lebanon, and IDF attacks have expanded to include southern Lebanon resulting in substantial civilian deaths and mass displacement.
  • Iran has responded with counterstrikes against military, diplomatic, and energy facilities across the Middle East.
  • Supply disruptions have resulted from precautionary shutdowns of oil and gas facilities, traffic across the Strait of Hormuz is severely disrupted, and rising oil prices are already impacting Britain and the rest of the world.

Conference is aware:

  • UK bases in Cyprus, Bahrain and Qatar have also come under attack and the RAF has deployed military resources to Cyprus and the Gulf.
  • Keir Starmer has allowed the US to use UK bases ‘for defensive attacks’.
  • Spain has refused permission for its bases to be used in the war on Iran, and
  • EU countries have not supported regime change even though European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen backed this.

Conference condemns:

  • Trump’s abandonment of US-Iran talks, which all sides agreed were making progress, to pursue an illegal war.
  • The hypocrisy of Israel, the region’s only nuclear armed state, which refuses to acknowledge its status, is not a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and does not allow IAEA inspections.

Conference:

  • Congratulates StWC for its rapid response to the outbreak of war on Iran.
  • Believes the war has great potential to spread conflict across the Middle East, one of the world’s most volatile regions.
  • Joins with many UK trade union leaders and others in opposing Britain’s indirect participation in the war.
  • Agrees to campaign for an end to the use of British bases by the US for its bombardment of Iran.

Jenny Clegg resolution: Trump, the Pacific adn Britain’s ‘Not NATO only’ militarisation

 

Conference notes:

  • The Trump Administration is committed to a ‘strong denial defence’ of the First Island Chain – from Japan to the Philippines through Taiwan – setting the Pacific up for war with China.
  • Japan’s ultra-nationalist Prime Minister Senae Takaichi is leading the country’s far right swing back to its prewar imperial militarism and is claiming any use of force by China against Taiwan could constitute ‘an existential crisis for Japan’ to which it would respond with military action.
  • On a visit to Japan coinciding with the 80th anniversary of VJ day, UK Defence Secretary, John Healey, hailed the closest defence ties between the two nations since the 1902 Anglo-Japanese Alliance which fostered Japan’s emergence as an aggressor state. These ties include the 2023 Reciprocal Access Agreement to deploy forces in each other’s countries. AUKUS is now going ahead following the government’s agreement in 2025 to build ‘up to’ 12 new AUKUS attack submarines for the Royal Navy.
  • China’s military modernisation is developing pace; its projection of global military power remains limited.

Conference recognises:

  • The ultimate priority of the Trump administration is to contain the rise of China.
  • Unleashing the huge military power of the US unrestrained by law or morality, the Trump administration raises the risk of war spreading to the Pacific.
  • Trump and Takaichi, as leaders of major states, play key roles in the worldwide lurch to the far right as they ready the region for war.
  • The UK, in claiming to contribute to NATO by providing the link between security in the Indo-Pacific and the Euro-Atlantic, is actively helping to create conditions for a Third World War whose consequences could be fatal for the entire humanity.

Conference resolves:

  • To work urgently to raise public awareness of the dangers of UK military involvement in the Pacific, and, by making the connections between the different regional wars, to build a movement against a Third World War.
  • To continue to call on the government to withdraw from AUKUS and demilitarise completely its relationship with Japan.
  • To challenge exaggerated claims by politicians and the media about the so-called ‘China threat’.
  • To recommend speakers from the IndoPacific region be invited to address the June International Peace Conference.

Counterfire resolution: Anti-imperialism and anti- fascism

 

Conference notes:

  • That far-right and fascist organisation on the streets has grown substantially, exemplified by Tommy Robinson’s ‘Unite the Kingdom’ demonstration in September 2025 which was the largest far-right mobilisation in British history.
  • That there has been a dramatic increase in Islamophobic violence against Muslims and mosques.
  • A coalition of fascists, Zionists and Iranian monarchists have physically intimidated trade unions, Palestine and anti-war meetings such as in Manchester, Falkirk, Bournemouth, Tower Hamlets, Portsmouth and elsewhere.
  • Tommy Robinson’s next national demonstration will coincide with the Nakba Day Palestine national demonstration on 16 May.

Conference believes:

  • The mobilising impetus for far-right and fascist forces comes from the Islamophobia generated by the state to justify 25 years of its War on Terror and, more recently, its participation in Israel’s genocide in Gaza – the first instance of the far right mobilising in a serious way in the current period was in response to the call by Suella Braverman to oppose the 11 November 2023 Palestine demonstration.
  • Labour’s increasingly inhumane treatment and demonisation of refugees and migrants, its nationalistic drive for more war, continuation of Tory austerity while committing eye-watering sums to increased military spending, and its increasing authoritarianism directed primarily at the Palestine movement only help to strengthen the far right.
  • Broad, united anti-fascist mobilisation is needed to counter and outnumber the far right to break their confidence and momentum, as well as to defend the communities they are attacking, and the Palestine solidarity and anti-war movements, which continue to mobilise hundreds of thousands, must be a central component of this.
  • The formation of the Together Alliance with a wide range of supporting organisations, trade unions and public figures and the demonstration it has called against the far right on 28 March is a welcome initiative.

Conference resolves:

  • To build the Palestine feeder march to the Together Alliance national demonstration on 28 March.
  • To build the Nakba Day Palestine national demonstration on 16 May.
  • To continue to strengthen our campaigning against war and militarism, for welfare not warfare, against Islamophobia and state authoritarianism which will be instrumental to pushing back the far right and the state that empowers them.
  • To build the International Meeting Against War on 20 June as a key avenue to push back against militarism and the far right across borders.

Bristol StW resolution: Local and regional campaigning 

 

Conference notes:

  • The anti-war movement is under sustained attack from the Government.
  • The Government, the police, and other state bodies continue to clamp down on dissent over their support for the apartheid state of Israel, militarism, and dissent in general, and have sustained their attacks on the right to protest over Palestine and against Britain’s involvement in imperialist wars.
  • The last 2.5 years have seen the expansion and deepening of the anti-war movement, with high levels of sustained mobilisation and activity. Many pre-existing local groups have been invigorated with growing memberships, and new groups have been set up across the UK.
  • The current moment, with escalating militarism led by Trump’s drive to war, is of an order of magnitude and danger not seen in decades.

Conference believes:

  • Building local groups is essential to the rapid expansion of the size and activity of our movement necessary to successfully oppose war.
  • The situation necessitates increased campaign activity at local and regional levels across StW groups, coalition partners, and trade union branches.
  • The building of local groups and regional assemblies plays a critical role in mobilising across the UK for national demonstrations and coordinated days of action.

Conference resolves:

  • For established groups to support newly formed local groups in their geographical region by holding regular public meetings with broad-based platforms and time for discussion, running campaign stalls in town centres, and approaching trade union branches and similar bodies to affiliate to the local group.
  • To organise large regional assemblies/conferences across the UK.
  • To organise local and regional actions in the run-up to national demonstrations and to coordinate around national days of action.

 

16 Mar 2026 • by Stop the War