The British working class are politically homeless. Their traditional party, founded by the trade unions, has turned its back on the people who built this country, and without whom it could not operate. In its place have emerged a string of opportunists claiming to be the voice of the average punter, but whose credentials just don’t stack up. Millionaire, private school-educated City trader Nigel Farage, the voice of the people? Do me a favour. Tommy Robinson? The only thing faker than his teeth is his go at being ‘one of the lads’. It’s time to call out these people for exactly what they are: frauds.

But beyond what these two say, what is driving working people in their direction is the lack of hope, the lack of an alternative to national decline and a rigged economic system. And make no mistake, if we don’t build resistance then the right-wing message in this country will grow stronger and louder. For such crowds to be drawn to the Unite the Kingdom protests in London last Saturday needs to be a wake-up call. It’s time for a real debate as the labour movement about how we face down this threat, and how we deliver the answers working class people are looking for. One cannot come without the other.

This also means that we also need a new movement. As brave as those turning up at Saturday’s counter-protest were, there numbers were tiny compared to the Unite the Kingdom protesters. This isn’t through any fault of their own, but that the major group that organised the protest has been exhaustively operating a losing strategy for a very long time now. We have to be honest about this. The answer can’t be, as some on the left have argued, that after British anti-fascism’s biggest ever street defeat, current anti-racist organising should just carry on as it is. That things can just continue as they are, it is everybody else’s fault for not going along with a strategy that is clearly uninspiring or engaging its own natural base, let alone winning over hearts and minds.

It’s not that there isn’t an anti-racist majority in this country, or that it’s difficult to get people onto the streets for progressive causes — the reality is the total opposite. But the truth is that the unions have outsourced their anti-racist strategy for years, and with nothing tangible to show for it. It isn’t right that this complacency exists, and that anti-racist politics is a box-ticking exercise to be delegated to committees, rather than something unions should be exercising real focus on.

We need to organise in a way that allows for a far wider reach, one with the potential to reach far beyond the confines of the ‘usual suspects’ of the Left, that allows for real creativity, local initiatives, and gives people a real sense of ownership over regaining momentum over far-right arguments in their workplaces, pubs and estates.

This new movement must be built on a coalition of trade unions, football supporters and community groups. My team, Plymouth Argyle, played away at Luton Town on Saturday — the same day as the Robinson march in London. Instead of being met with the unsettled community we hear so much about, Argyle fans were greeted by members of the local mosque, who were handing out bottles of water before and after the match. The contrast between that and the hate we are fed on social media could not be starker, and it’s feelings like that this that need to be strengthened up and down the country.

To deliver something new and fresh in every community won’t be easy. We will need money, infrastructure and organising skills. This has to be the role of our trade unions. This is a chance to show our arguments are as relevant today as when we were on the right side of history so many times in the past. Pro-worker, anti-racism. Not a step back on either.

Our language is important too. As a society, we’ve lost the ability to talk to each other, to listen and to change minds. Everything is polarised. The march on Saturday was organised, financed and controlled by the far-right. But you don’t mobilise numbers of that magnitude without picking up ordinary people who feel voiceless. Labelling them all as fascists is a gift to the far-right. It further marginalises those who already feel marginalised.

We have to speak to people. We cannot write people off. We have to win debates. In our WhatsApp chats, in our workplaces and in our communities. Thinking of my industry, the Mount Pleasant sorting office in London has people from over 50 nationalities working at it. Our NHS is a workplace of the world. The average building site is manned by workers from across the globe, and the rights and conditions of railway workers has been won by people born here and abroad. If we can build solidarity within the workplace then we can take that into our communities.

Equally, our language when dealing with the likes of Farage and Robinson must be unapologetically robust. Pandering to this language, as Starmer has, will achieve nothing. We must call them out for the posh boys they are, and highlight the hypocrisy of these ‘patriots’ who are silent when veterans live on the streets, the cost of everything soars, and people can’t for life nor money find affordable homes or decent work. These are the real things that make Britain so unequal, but you won’t hear about that from Farage because it doesn’t suit his paymasters or his politics.

Football is the people’s game. Despite supporters being priced out by TV greed it is still where millions of working class people invest their time and money every weekend. It is another section of our society we have just handed to the right. Reform football shirts, Robinson in his Stone Island gear, lads from football clubs across the country singing their names. Why? Because of everything above. But also because football fans are demonised by those in power, mugged off with ticket and shirt prices and often hassled and threatened by police. It’s a terrain we’ve handed the right, since it’s easier to hand out placards to well-meaning students than tackle a far-right base. But because of our lack of presence, enough football lads see figures like Farage and Robinson as anti-establishment, and not a lot of people are around to say otherwise.

The working class are politically homeless, but they aren’t stupid. If we can build the coalition I’ve described, we can rebuild a national base of solidarity and defeat blind hatred being the only ‘alternative’. It’s a big challenge, but one we can no longer shy away from.