David Maples, Brighton Socialist Party
Faced with cuts of £16 million, there has been lobby after lobby of Brighton Labour council.
Parents of special needs children faced with cuts, campaigning for improved out of school and respite provision. Adult social care users campaigning for adequate funding. Housing campaigners trying to stop homeless people being uprooted away from friends and family. Unison union council workers fighting for adequate staffing.
The Labour councillors have no answers. Keir Starmer may find extra funding for war, but austerity continues on the home front.
Brighton Trades Union Council and Brighton Unison are playing a vital role in bringing campaigners together. A further lobby is planned for the budget-setting meeting on 27 February. But what next?
The Green Party councillors have supported the lobbies, and called for the return of the £110 million stolen from the council each year since 2010. In office, however, they have implemented cuts. Each time they have led the council, they have become deeply unpopular.
Greens
With 843 Green councillors, and the leadership of 12 councils, they could lead a national challenge to austerity, if they advocated no-cuts budgets. Unfortunately, this appears to be a closed book to them. Trade unionists should challenge them on this.
There is determination to fight against the cuts that Labour is proposing. This needs a consistent call for a budget based on what people need, and councillors with an unwavering anti-cuts stance.
