Thread by @shaunjlawson

If you ever wanted to know when Corbynism was born, it was on 20 July 2015. When the vast bulk of Labour MPs, to their everlasting shame, abstained on the welfare reform bill.

But what was the exact moment of its birth? Answer: here. This speech.

I reproduce John McDonnell's words below. Read them all. And ask yourself: who are the 'extremists'? This wise, kind, decent man, his great friend Corbyn with whom he agrees so much... or all those who allowed this disgrace to happen, and could not have cared less?

I would swim through vomit to vote against this Bill. And listening to some of the nauseating speeches tonight, I think we might have to. Poverty in my constituency is not a lifestyle choice. It’s imposed upon people.

We hear lots about how high the welfare bill is. Let’s understand why that’s the case. The housing benefit bill is so high because for generations we’ve failed to build council houses. We’ve failed to control rents.

We’ve done nothing about the 300,000 properties that stand empty in this country.

The reason tax credits are so high is because pay is so low. And the reason pay is so low is because employers have exploited workers...

... And we’ve removed trade union rights that would enable people to be protected at work. We now have less than a third of our workers covered by collective bargain agreements.

And the reason unemployment bills are so high is because we’ve failed to invest in our economy. We’ve allowed de-industrialisation of the north and Scotland and elsewhere. They’re the reasons why the welfare bill is so high.

And this Welfare Reform Bill, as all the other welfare reform bills in recent years have done, is blame the poor for their own poverty and not the system.

On Friday, I brought together in my constituency in a poverty seminar, the welfare advice agencies, the local churches and religious groups, to talk about why there are poor people in my constituency.

The reason they’re poor is because rents are so high. People struggle to keep a roof over their heads. What this Bill will do on the cap is remove £63 a week from those families simply trying to keep a decent home over their children’s heads.

The second reason… is low pay. They depend in my constituency on tax credits to live. Parents choosing whether they eat or the children eat that week. This will take £6 a week from every one of those families.

The other reason we’ve got poverty in my constituency is because people have disabilities. They struggle to work and can’t do it. This will take £30 a week off people with disabilities who are desperately trying to work because they’re in the work support group trying to get work

That’s the reasons for the poverty in my constituency. I find it appalling that we sit here in, to be frank, relative wealth ourselves, and we’re willing to vote through increased poverty on the people back home in our constituencies…

Some of the benefit cuts are going to be absolutely appalling. What is not in this Bill, but it’s being sneaked through by the government, is the cut in support allowances for asylum seeker children. Cut by 30%.

Some of the poorest children in our society we’re about to ensure that we push into further poverty.

What we need now is an honest discussion about the reasons for that poverty, and how we can invest to ensure that we lift people out of poverty…

... And to come along and describe a derisory increase in the minimum wage as a ‘living wage’, when we know a living wage in this country is at least £10 an hour, I think is a disgrace.

So after setting out McDonnell's words - which the Labour manifesto is a true, comprehensive answer to - I have a question for all these religious leaders who've reared their heads this week.

While all this has been going on, WHERE WERE YOU?

And I have a question for all those smug centrist commentators who've constantly ignored all this and just stuck the boot into someone trying to help these people instead.

While all this has been going on, WHERE WERE YOU?

And I even have a question for ultra Remainers who sneer at the country for voting itself poorer.

When the House of Commons was voting poor people, disabled people, sick people and asylum seekers' children practically into destitution...

WHERE WERE YOU?

THAT is why Corbynism rose. THAT is why the Labour Party has changed. THAT is why what it offers now is our only hope against a future so dark, so dystopian, it practically defies imagination.

So... are you with us? Or are you with those that did this? The choice is yours.