Local Councils

Local councils and local services

Force Labour councils to defy cuts!

The Lib/Tory government plans to make many of its cuts by chopping finance for local councils, and so forcing the councils to axe jobs and services. About 60% of councils' income comes from central government (about 25% from council tax, and the other 15% from rents, fees, charges, etc.), and the government plans to force a freeze on council tax rates in April 2011 budgets. What will Labour councils do? Some have been chopping away for years, under New Labour government, and are moving fast for bigger cuts to accommodate the new central government policies. Neath Port Talbot council in South...

Glasgow City Council's "arms length" company attacks unions

Set up as an “arms length” company by Labour-controlled Glasgow City Council in 2006, City Building (Glasgow) LLP (formerly the council’s Building Services Department) has enjoyed a large amount of salacious press coverage in recent months. It began with the revelation that since 2006 City Building had awarded £10 millions worth of contracts to City Refrigeration Holdings Ltd whose founder and boss, Willie Haughey, has donated over £1 million to Labour since 2003 — the biggest donor to Labour in Scotland. In the same period City Refrigeration won just one other public contract — a slightly...

Sheltered housing wardens: the elderly cannot afford these politicians

On Monday 22 March sheltered housing residents from around the country, many elderly and disabled, stood opposite Parliament to shout “Save our wardens!” They were protesting against the removal of residential wardens from sheltered housing schemes. Since the government removed the ring fence from the Supporting People budget, councils, mainly Tory and Lib Dem, have been raiding this pot to fund other services. A motorcade of chauffeur-driven cars bearing dignitaries in wigs, with their families, left the Palace of Westminster. We hadn’t a clue who they were, but perhaps we were able to make...

Scottish cuts campaign

Public sector union Unison has called a demonstration in Glasgow on 10 April against planned, and already implemented, local authority job losses and cuts in services throughout Scotland. 50% of respondents in a recent survey of Unison members in Scotland reported a freeze on filling vacancies in their workplace. And 20% of respondents reported a policy of no cover being provided for absent members of staff. Given that the survey covered the impact of cuts imposed over the last two years, it does not take much to work out what will be the impact of the far greater cuts in spending due to be...

The Lib Dems in power - the reality

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg claimed in his recent Spring Conference speech that voting for his party meant a guarantee of “fairness” and “change you can believe in”. The Lib Dems have traditionally been able to get away with the worst opportunism of the main parties on the basis that they are unlikely ever to get into power. They can say whatever they want, criticise the other parties, knowing they will never be held to account. The recent pledge of allegiance by ex- New Statesman editor John Kampfer suggests that this pitch is having some effect on elements of the soft left. But if you...

Local Government: resist these cuts

A BBC survey of councils has made the extent of cuts threatening local services clear. The first batch of councils which answered the survey reported job cuts of at least 25,000 in the next three to five years. The BBC calculates that, translated across the board, this could mean 180,000 job being slashed. Such cuts would, obviously, be a disaster for both council workers and “service users”, i.e., workers and working-class communities more generally. One third of councils said their children’s services faced cuts; the figure for adult services was half. Cuts of 10–15% were the most common...

Pay freeze in Local Government: the shape of Tory attacks to come

The Tory led Local Government Association (LGA) has said there will be no increase in pay in 2010-2011. They say there is not enough money available to fund an increase and this is the only way they have to protect jobs and services in the economic crisis. The Labour minority group on the LGA have suggested a 1% increase for the lowest paid — a small crumb of comfort. This is Tories practising for national power and adopting a hard line stance on pay. It is only a prelude for what a Cameron government will attempt. Alongside the pay freeze there is also an attempt to renegotiate the terms of...

Wirral libraries: Government report slams council

A long-awaited report from the Government inquiry into Wirral Council's plans to close 11 libraries was finally made public just before Christmas. The report was due to be published in September but Wirral chose to sit on it while they announced their decision to keep all the 11 libraries open. We now know why they did not publish. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport inquiry found that the council were in breach of their statutory duties, had failed to assess the needs of local people and displayed a lack of logic when making their plans. The report's author Sue Charteris states, “the...

Barnet sheltered housing wardens, a temporary reprieve

Barnet Tory council’s decision to axe its sheltered housing wardens and replace them with a roving support service with far fewer staff was ruled illegal by the High Court in December 2009. The court ruled that in its consultation Barnet had not met its duties under disability discrimination legislation. Now the council has put off for this year any new moves to cut the service. But it is likely that, once the elections are out of the way, they will try again, this time making sure they comply with legislation. Ninety per cent of people responding to the first consultation opposed the cuts...

Glasgow: unions and activists unite

Around a hundred trade union and community activists attended an anti-cuts meeting organised on Saturday 23 January by Glasgow City Unison branch. Trade unions and community organisations have come together into a single campaign against council cuts in jobs and services. Glasgow City Council is making major cuts in jobs and services over the next three years, involving not just the council but also its “Arms Length Organisations” — supposedly set up to safeguard jobs and services! The proposed cuts include: • 600 immediate job losses with more to come; • 12 community centres, a library and a...

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