Anti-cuts, public services

On 31 October the government announced it would scrap plans to close every rail ticket office in England. This is a significant victory for the rail unions, passengers, and disabled and accessibility campaigners. Despite the government and the Train Operating Companies (TOCs) arguing that modernisation and reform of the railway meant complete closure, a popular and large-scale campaign with over 750,000 responding to the consultation has defeated the plan. Transport Focus and London Travelwatch reported they were against the plan, and the government said that the alternative plans drawn up by...

On 19 September, the ironically titled Levelling Up Secretary, Michael Gove, announced he would be sending in commissioners to take over the running of Birmingham city council. The commissioners will very likely oversee the plundering of Birmingham, with the sale of council assets such as landmark buildings, jobs cuts, and funding cuts that will massively impact the charity sector. Two observations. One, for years the argument from the Labour Right and the official Left has been that Labour councils shouldn't actually resist implementing austerity (as with Lambeth and Liverpool councils in the...

Activists from Workers' Liberty and supporters of Solidarity will be at Labour Party conference and women's conference, 7-11 October in Liverpool. We'll be there to help the efforts of Free Our Unions, the Labour Campaign for Free Movement, the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign, India Labour Solidarity, and other campaigns; to sell literature, seek discussions and contacts. There will be demonstrations for the NHS and for abortion rights on Saturday, for free education on Sunday. And agitation for a block on new North Sea oil and gas fields, following the Tories' decision to "max out" licences in...

The “final” National Policy Forum report going to Labour Party conference in Liverpool, 8-11 October 2023, is mostly 112 pages of warm words evading clear commitments. The conference Delegates’ Briefing says that the facility to “refer back” items from the NPF report, established since 2017, will not be available, on the pretext that (for the first time since 2017) this is a “final” report and so there is nowhere to “refer back” to. Delegates will still seek to remonstrate by voting against sections of the report and passing motions stating clear commitments or contradicting the report. The...

On Saturday 9 September 150 people marched in Bristol to demand “Free and Fair buses” and “public control” from the West of England Combined Authority (WECA). Organised by Bristol XR Youth, the demo protested unreliable services, with regular delays and cancellations; the axing of dozens of routes which has left many without public transport; and high fares. On Friday 8th, a dozen young people occupied WECA’s offices around lunchtime, with another dozen supporting from outside. They were evicted late that night. The demand is for free buses for under-25s, students, and apprentices. “Fairer”...

The "bubbly concrete" (RAAC) scandal is a product of 13 years of deliberate Tory neglect

The Tories have felt obliged to remove Trans-Pennine Express rail from its private operators and reassign the franchise as from 28 May to the public-sector “operator of last resort”. They cite “months of continual cancellations” of services. Private water companies have been indicted for large discharges of untreated sewage into waterways and failure to fix leaks, despite paying out over £50 billion in dividends to shareholders since privatisation in 1989. Energy companies are making vast profits while poorer households have faced enforced chill and high bills. The Tories’ Energy Bill Relief...

Workers, parents and students at the Prendergast group of schools in Lewisham (south-east London) are in revolt against the attempt to convert them to a multi-academy trust – a semi-private organisation outside local authority control in which management power is entrenched. As part of a lively and determined campaign, National Education Union members at the three secondary and two primary schools have voted overwhelmingly to strike, with six days set from late April. The schools are already part of a federation within the local authority – one which, peculiarly, also has links to a City of...

Sarah Ronan of the Women’s Budget Group talked with Solidarity in the run-up to the Budget. (This version includes some amendments sent by Sarah Ronan relative to the printed version.) We know that the current offer of free childcare is not funded at cost. Freedom of Information requests from 2021 show that the government knowingly underfunds the schemes by around £2.60 per hour. That obviously forces providers to cross-subsidise by increasing fees, and means that providers can’t pay the wages that they need to pay to compete in the current labour market and attract and keep staff. It doesn’t...

The past few months have seen the biggest strikes by nurses in the history of the NHS. The RCN began its action in December, though has (at the time of writing) suspended action around negotiations. Unison, GMB and Unite have called out paramedics. Meanwhile, the BMA’s thumping victory in its national ballot has brought Junior Doctors into the dispute. As in the broader strike wave, pay is the core issue of the dispute. With inflation soaring, and after more than a decade of pay cuts, nurses were awarded a miserable £1,400 for 2022-23. This situation, combined with the wider crisis in the NHS...