Councillor Chloe Hawryluk on what the British left should be doing for young working-class people.

Local Councillor, Chloe Hawryluk, “started her journey into politics with the climate strikes in 2019” and became involved with the Labour Party. She is now no longer a part of the party, but celebrating her “four year anniversary of joining Labour”, and ahead of her upcoming talk at the Cambridge Union, she has declared that “Labour and the factionalism of Young Labour is toxic” and “undemocratic”. 

Hawryluk is a final year politics student at Liverpool University, devoting much of her time to advocate for the inclusion of young people in politics. She “progressed into politics because of Jeremy Corbyn” and a desire to “take a more active role within the community”. 

Hawryluk describes her family as “very working class”. Hawryluk’s background grounds much of her political ideology and her activism, and what motivated her to become a local councillor for Wythall Parish Council. 

“I’m quite sensitive. My mum said you should have a backbone to enter politics. But, that shouldn’t have to be the case. I want to work for the people. A lot of people are just there for the money and power”. 

But four years in, Hawryluk feels more disillusioned than ever – particularly with the party’s factionalism.

She cautions students hoping to support Labour in the upcoming elections. “Within Labour, Labour to Win [an internal youth faction] have rebranded to Organise – not a lot of people know that. People joining want to organise Labour for the election, without knowing that it’s the right wing of the party”. She suggests it’s “part of a more moderate rebrand, appealing to the electorate rather than members”. 

“The party had me under investigation” following a tweet deemed out of step with the current Labour. “You can’t do anything– it was a notice of investigation, more than anything else,” Hawryluk tells us. She was cleared of any wrongdoing. 

“Young Labour is based on connections”, she told us, revealing much of the party’s effort to mobilise young people is bolstering support for its right wing. Hawryluk suggests that the youth wing of the party is “so undemocratic”. Certain “factions have time and money” while others do not. “I really struggled […] I wanted to go for Women’s Officer for so long, before nominations were even open, […] but University clubs are endorsing slates of certain candidates […] it prioritises factionalism over friendship”. 

“It’s not the same party”, Hawryluk reflects. “I identify as a Corbynite” but “the party detests people like me”. She notes that “factionalism isn’t as bad in other parties”. She is very outspoken, criticising the Party’s leadership – it’s clear that she outrightly “doesn’t agree with the policies” of Starmer. “It would be against my principles to not speak against Starmer’s anti-trans policies”. 

But, Hawryluk wants to “continue to improve the party internally. It’s toxic that the party wants to erase people who supported past leaders”, Hawryluk laments. “There’s still support for Blair, so why is this not the same for Corbyn”. 

“Labour is absolutely failing – one hundred percent– for not calling for a ceasefire in Gaza”.  She remarked that the party’s reluctance was a “failure for young people” that are throwing their weight behind the party in the upcoming election. 

Hawryluk’s own experiences as a local councillor led her to found the initiative Our Voice Matters – a cross party campaign to address sexual harassment in political parties. 

“Every girl has a story”. She told us that the “harassment, especially the sexual harassment, is ridiculous”. When incidents occur, “it can take years to get justice”.  

“You have to be a certain type of person” to thrive in Westminster politics, and by extension Labour politics. In contrast,  Hawryluk feels much more at ease in her Parish Council, where she can offer a “youth perspective” in what other people would perceive to be “dominated by retired elderly people”. She’s an advocate for youth inclusion in politics,“ even if being an MYP or part of a youth cabinet is there for show, it introduces kids to politics”, although she’s aware of criticism that it “raises careerists”.  

“There’s more to life than feeling the only way to succeed is being a banker or an economist”, and perhaps the same goes for careerist politicians. 

Hawryluk’s strong convictions about working class inclusion in politics led her to found the Liverpool branch of the 93% Club but she quickly became “disillusioned with it”.

Hawryluk  notes that many have said they feel “too working class for the 93% Club”. 

“It should be about how to survive in a world as a working class person, rather than feeling a sense of shame. I don’t want to cosplay as a banker”.

At an event in London, Hawryluk knew many felt that “it was essentially a careers event about law and finance, and a chance to listen to a Conservative MP with canapes and cocktails.”

Her ethos for the Liverpool branch of the club focuses on “working class liberation, not CV building”.

Hawryluk will be returning to Cambridge for a panel event on working class inclusion in politics, after a summer stint at Gonville & Caius College, after spending a summer researching the experiences of children researching Speech and Language Disorders. The other people on the scheme “hated it– Cambridge, for them, was so stuck up and posh”. But, “when you enter new spaces, you need to push through.” 

“When I announced that I was speaking at the Cambridge Union, many people left messages saying ‘Down with the Union’. I want to reclaim it”, Hawryluk told us.

“I want to come to Cambridge to diversify it– how else is diversity supposed to happen”. 

Chloe Hawryluk will be speaking at the Cambridge Union on Tuesday 27th February at 6pm.