Iain Dalton, Socialist Party Yorkshire secretary
To chants of “cutback, fightback” and “Kirklees Council, shame on you”, campaigners marched from Batley to Dewsbury to highlight the savage cuts being carried through by the council.
With a £47 million hole in its finances for next year, the last few months have seen Kirklees Council announce more and more cuts to local services.
In the last few weeks, there have been increased charges for parking and allotments, and the sell-off of a number of buildings used by sports clubs, charities and community groups.
Stop the closures
The march featured speakers from many of the campaign groups fighting cuts. They have come together under the banner of ‘Stop the Closures’, including from Dewsbury and Colne Valley leisure centres, Claremont House Care Home, Deighton Sports Arena, Batley Library, and others.
As the march passed, drivers who had stopped gave us thumbs up and tooted in support. At the rally in Dewsbury, the Socialist Party campaign stall was constantly busy, with passers-by signing our petition against the closures.
Amongst marchers there was huge anger at the Labour council. The Labour group on the council is now split. Seven councillors have indicated they won’t vote for the closures.
But demonstrators were also angry at the Tories. Rishi Sunak, responding at Prime Minister’s Questions, said Kirklees Council “is no longer fit for purpose”. One speaker at the rally said if that’s the case, “why doesn’t he ensure the council is funded properly?”
Put councillors on spot
I was invited to speak at the rally, and pointed out that in the run-up to the Autumn Statement, the Tories are talking of having tens of billions of pounds of “fiscal headroom”. So why couldn’t that be used to protect services in councils up and down the country, rather than cutting inheritance tax which will benefit just 4% of the population?
I raised that councillors should be put on the spot, that they should vote to stop these cuts, and MPs should be challenged on whether they will reverse more than a decade of cuts to local government funding. Those who don’t should face a challenge at the next election from anti-cuts campaigners.
