Tom Baldwin, Bristol Socialist Party
Bristol now has a Green-led council, supported by the Lib Dems. Despite being elected claiming to be anti-austerity, the Greens put forward a £51 million cuts package, without public consultation.
Proposals included large-scale sell-offs of council housing, attacks on council tax support for the poorest, and museum and library closures. Bin collections will be cut to every three or even four weeks.
In justifying the cuts, with talk of ‘tough choices’, the Greens sound no different to the other capitalist parties. Some of their proposals were directly recycled from the previous Labour administration, which they claim to be an alternative to.
Those plans were defeated then, and must be fought again now. Under pressure, the Greens have already announced that some of the most headline-grabbing cuts will be deferred for a year.
We cannot be complacent. These proposals will come back, and many vital services still face losing funding immediately.
Nonetheless, this partial U-turn shows that campaigning can make a difference. That success must be built on.
Over 40 trade unionists and other campaigners came to Bristol Trades Council’s public meeting, showing determination to fight the cuts, all the way. People talked about the impact that cuts would have, and their experiences of victorious campaigns in the past.
Labour
A Labour councillor who came was firmly reminded of his party’s record of making cuts in the city, and the role their government is now playing. An anti-cuts campaign was launched from the meeting, with lobbies of council meetings as the next step.
The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) has consistently stood in elections with a strategy to fight the cuts, and save jobs and services. We need a council with the bravery to set no-cuts budgets, and launch a mass campaign to challenge the government to return the funding stolen over the last 15 years.
Dan Smart was the 2024 general election candidate for TUSC in Bristol North East. He is a local government union branch secretary (personal capacity).
He said: “These cuts are disgusting. The Greens have completely betrayed any claim to be an anti-austerity party.
“It’s hypocritical of Labour to criticise them. They refused to fight austerity when they ran the council – cutting millions from the budget, and leaving a situation where each successive budget bites deeper.
“After years of blaming the Tories, they’re now the ones holding the purse strings in Westminster. Yet Labour has chosen to continue the local government funding crisis.
“None of these parties represents us. The working class needs a political voice, and TUSC was set up to help provide that.”
‘They don’t represent us’
Sheila Caffrey is an elected member of the National Education Union (NEU) executive, as well as Bristol Trades Union Council secretary (both personal capacity).
She said: “These cuts must be fought, and the trade union movement can play an important role in this. My union helped launch the Bristol and District Anti-Cuts Alliance (BADACA), which had a long record of fighting for jobs and services.
“The trades council, which brings together trade union branches from across the city, is planning a campaign to continue that work and fight these cuts.
“We also need a political alternative that actually represents the workers’ movement, stands 100% against austerity, and puts our members ahead of big business interests.”
Socialist Party public meeting to discuss fighting cuts
Tuesday 11 February, 7.30pm, Broadmead Baptist Church, Union Street, BS1 3HY
