Working-class fighters need to stand
Adam Harmsworth, Coventry Socialist Party
Every day we see the impact of over a decade of underinvestment. Our roads and buildings are literally crumbling, our council taxes are always going up and the services we rely on get worse or go.
But on social media, Labour boasts about a “huge boost to council funding”, with the tagline “Investment, not decline”. The reality is, the “investment” is mostly from council tax hikes, and many will get a decline in services anyway.
The government is giving barely any new money to councils. Instead, the ‘funding boost’ assumes councils raise council taxes by 5% every year, which will harm many already impoverished households. Labour has also taken over £2 billion from some councils to give to others. The worse-off councils will be looking to make even deeper cuts – closing more youth clubs and libraries, slashing more council jobs, reducing funding to charities.
But even the councils in receipt of the £2 billion aren’t in the clear. After a decade and a half of brutal austerity, any slight improvements to services will not make a dent in the devastating decline.
Over the next month, councils will set their budgets for the year ahead. Whoever runs your council – Labour, Tory, Green, Reform – you can be sure that they will make you pay more yet again. Reform have shown their true colours: raising taxes and cutting essential services. And Green councillors unfortunately undermine their party’s national anti-austerity message by doing the same.
Councillors do not have to accept austerity. Councils can oppose cuts and fund the services people need, and rally the working class to demand the money we need from government. Keir Starmer’s government is weak. A socialist anti-austerity stand in the May council elections could win seats, challenge establishment parties in the council chamber, and start to win back the funding that has been stolen from us.
This is an appeal to any reader who agrees that we need to fight for decent local services – stand in the May council elections on an anti-austerity working class programme!
- Visit tusc.org.uk to find out more about the planned anti-austerity socialist stand
