Heather Rawling, Leicester Socialist Party
As if it is not enough that the cost of living has soared, Leicester City Council is proposing to raise rents for its 19,000 tenants by 7% and the council tax by the maximum of 5%, as well as cuts in services and redundancies. Piling on the misery, 2,500 homes on the district heating scheme face a tripling of their heating charges on top of their other fuel bills. A family living in a three-bedroom property on the District Heating Network currently pays £951 a year for gas on average, which will rise to £3,141 if plans are given the go-ahead!
An angry meeting of upwards of 100 tenants in the Highfields area of Leicester made their views on Leicester Labour council clear. Highfields has some of the city’s poorest paid workers and highest levels of deprivation. Many work in the sweatshop textile industry for well below the minimum wage. Tenants said they felt forgotten, ignored and neglected. Many of them were already using food banks and struggling to pay their bills.
The demand raised by a Socialist Party member that people should stand against any councillor that is in favour of increasing the charges and imposing cuts on services, received enthusiastic applause. Some were prepared to put their name forward as candidates.
At a similar meeting, also organised by Enough is Enough in St Matthews, residents also expressed their anger. It is possible that some councillors will vote against the proposals.
Peter, sorry, Sir Peter Soulsby, Labour city mayor, has said: “There is no doubt that painful cuts will be required over the coming years.” Yet the council has over £200 million in ‘usable’ reserves! Anyone who genuinely wanted to defend and fight for the working class would use that money to protect services and keep down rent, council tax and heating charges. They would organise a mass movement of workers to demand extra funding from a weak Tory government.
And don’t tell us that the money isn’t there. They can find money for fighting wars – £2.3 billion for Ukraine in 2022. £10 billion in contracts was awarded by government departments to private companies, often owned by friends, family and supporters, during the pandemic.
Labour has abandoned the working class. Starmer is doing everything to show the rich and powerful that he will look after their interests. We need to build a new party of the working class, the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition will be standing candidates in the upcoming local elections as part of that process. You can help by supporting candidates in the local elections or even better putting yourself forward as a candidate to stand up for the working class and oppose all attacks on our living standards.
