Jasper Chaplin, West London Socialist Party
The Socialist Party is once again standing for real political change in South Acton ward, Ealing, West London. David Hofman, a long-standing member of the West London branch, is running as a Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidate to fight against Labour austerity in a 10 October by-election.
With a Labour council, Labour London Mayor and Labour government, many people will have hoped for positive developments – instead, cuts continue.
Ealing council, like all councils across the UK, has suffered from 14 years of Tory austerity, and it has lost 56% in real-terms funding in the last decade. But rather than fight against it, the council has transferred these cuts to the borough’s working-class residents. And while it awarded a £99 million contract to the big business responsible for the Grenfell fire to refurbish High Lane Estate homes, 7,500 people are stuck on the council housing register, facing waiting times of up to 12 years.
The budget squeeze will affect a myriad of services – pothole filling, adequate street lighting, libraries and leisure facilities.
We don’t accept that the working class should have to pay for austerity, including through increased council tax. We say that councils should fight for more funding, instead of rolling over and cutting services which are vital to public health, wellbeing, and safety. We need mass building of affordable council housing, caps on private rent and service charges, and to hold landlords and big businesses accountable, so that everyone can afford a safe place to live. Most importantly, we need councillors that will act in the interest of the working class, instead of abstaining from using their voice like Labour councillors do when they risk being suspended.
Vote for TUSC in the upcoming South Acton by-election; release Ealing council from the grip of Labour, vote for a real political alternative to austerity and capitalism.
