Becca Bayman and Dean Young, Liverpool Socialist Party
Liverpool Labour council has voted to cut £57 million from public services, including £20 million adult social care cuts.
Liverpool Socialist Party played a key role helping organise the trade union council’s ‘People’s Budget’ conference on 21 February. At this, dozens of delegates from trade union branches and community organisations unanimously voted for an alternative budget, proposing:
- 5,000 council house building programme
- Opposing 5% council tax hike
- Reversing all cuts
A delegate from a Unite the Union construction branch, Larry Bowles, said it was inspiring that so many young delegates led on the ‘People’s Budget’ proposals.
Lobbying Labour council
40 young trade unionists and socialists lobbied the town hall on budget day, 3 March. Socialist Party member Conor O’Neill spoke about youth unemployment and precarious working. A local anti-cuts activist talked about the campaign to save a local library.
Dave Walsh, Liverpool Trades Union Council president, pointed to the example of the Liverpool councillors in the 1980s, who led the campaign that beat Margaret Thatcher’s Tory government cuts. Green councillor Martyn Madeley and Your Party councillor Alan Gibbons also spoke.
During our February ‘People’s Budget’ meeting, both councillors had said they supported the proposals. Martyn from the Greens signed the trade unionist petition, which calls on Zack Polanski to ensure that Green Party candidates will only appear on the ballot if they publicly commit to voting against all cuts.
Martyn voted for our ‘People’s Budget’ at the meeting, after we answered his concern about unelected council officers opposing our anti-cuts proposals. Alan from Your Party agreed to present our alternative budget to the council.
However, after the meeting, both wrote to say that they would not be supporting the ‘People’s Budget’. When it came to the budget day lobby, both praised the ‘People’s Budget’. A Socialist Party member chairing the anti-cuts rally asked the Green’s Martyn to vote against Labour’s austerity budget.
In the council chamber, only Your Party and Greens voted against Labour’s budget. The Greens have previously only abstained.
The Greens voted for the Your Party amendment to save a local library. But it was a mistake for two of the Your Party councillors to not use their right of reply, after an hour of slander by Labour councillors. The other Your Party councillor, Alan Gibbons, was undemocratically denied the right to speak in reply.
What’s our alternative?
In the council, the Liberal Democrats attacked Labour, without putting forward an alternative. This shows the importance of us having a concrete alternative. It was a mistake that none of the Your Party or Green councillors presented our alternative ‘People’s Budget’.
Unelected council officers might not see our People’s Budget as ‘credible’. However, the working-class would get behind our proposals.
Moreover, proposing a ‘People’s Budget’ in the council chamber, would put Labour councillors on the spot ahead of next year’s all-out council elections – forcing them to publicly vote for or against building 5,000 council homes.
This is not the end of the People’s Budget campaign. We will keep opposing the cuts. And we’ve set foundations for the 2027 local elections.
