Bradford – council tax hike
Iain Dalton, Socialist Party Yorkshire
Hundreds of people attended meetings in Yorkshire recently addressed by the Green Party’s new left-wing leader Zack Polanski.
In Bradford, up to 400 people heard him rightly criticise Labour councils for continuing to implement austerity, and not criticising Keir Starmer’s continued squeeze of local government finances.
But what was his alternative? He promised Green councillors would speak out against austerity. But when it comes to action, they “will manage the finances as best as they can”.
Bradford’s five Green councillors showed what this meant in practice at the council’s last budget-setting meeting. Compared to the Labour council’s 9.99% council tax increase – the largest in the country – the Greens proposed 9.5%, which still would be one of the largest in the country.
Working-class people should not be made to pay for the costs of the crisis of capitalism, through cuts to services and increased charges and taxes. At the meetings, Socialist Party members argued that if Green councillors want to fight austerity, they should instead come together with trade unions, community groups, and socialists in people’s budget conferences to discuss how to fight for resources our communities need.
Green councils could use reserves and borrowing powers, on a temporary basis, to set legally balanced no-cuts budgets, whilst building mass campaigns to fight for the funding our cities need.
Nottingham – no-cuts budget
Gary Freeman, Nottingham Socialist Party
The Green Party held a public meeting in Nottingham on 10 January. At it, the main speaker was recently elected Green Party deputy leader Mothin Ali.
In Nottingham, the only councillor to vote against the last two budgets of cuts and job losses was Shuguftah Quddoos – first as a Labour councillor (she was suspended the next day), and then as the only Green councillor.
She is a member of Nottingham Save Our Services Steering Group. Nottingham Save Our Services (NSOS) was initiated by Nottingham City Unison and the local Trades Council with support from other trade unionists and community activists.
We drafted a no-cuts, costed, budget amendment reversing the cuts for 2025-26 and reinstating services cut in the previous budget. We raised how this would give time to build a mass campaign with the union’s at the city council, community groups and more widely, to fight for the necessary funding.
It was funded by using some of the usable reserves (Nottingham had £256 million as of the end of the 2024-25 financial year, with over £60 million unearmarked). But the Lord Mayor, who chairs the council, wouldn’t take it!
I put that approach to Mothin and those at the meeting, calling on him and Green leader Zack Polanski to instruct Green councillors across the country, including where Greens play a role in council leaderships, to put forward no-cuts budgets and fight for the necessary funding.
Mothin’s reply? “That’s a lazy question”. He went on to say that they couldn’t, that they haven’t got the money. He said it makes no different what “colour” the party is running the council.
Actually councils do have short-term spending powers, and could play a role in helping to mobilise mass campaigns to demand money from what is a weak and unpopular government.
There are no council elections in Nottingham this year. We will continue to fight for a new workers’ party, and as part of that, councillors who are prepared to fight for the funding our communities need.
