Kevin Maguire’s article: ‘No Mercy For The Benefits Snatcher’ 27/03/25, tries to draw an equivalence between the Labour chancellor’s cruel cuts to disability benefits and the redundancy notices issued by the Militant-led council in Liverpool in the 1980s.
I was one of the workers who received that notice. Me and the majority of my colleagues knew it was a tactic to put pressure on Thatcher’s government to reverse their cuts. Not a single person was made redundant by the Militant-led council.
Those councillors continued their campaign against austerity until they were surcharged and undemocratically removed from office by an unelected judge.
At that time, there were over 30,000 workers employed by Liverpool City Council, now there are fewer than 5,000, all a result of cuts and privatisation, with many of those jobs lost under Labour governments and councils.
What the Labour chancellor Rachel Reeves is doing is the exact opposite to what the Militant-led council did. They fought to take people out of poverty, while this Labour government plunges them into poverty.
Dave Walsh, chair Liverpool Trades Council
- Dave sent the reply on 27 March, we are still waiting for the correction to be published
