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From The Socialist newspaper, 14 February 2018
Staines fire services saved
(Click to enlarge)
Paul Couchman, secretary, Save our Services in Surrey
After a prolonged battle with Surrey council, the campaign to protect fire services in Staines has won an important retreat.
After successfully fighting to save the fire station, the attempt to reduce the service from two engines to one has been defeated.
Surrey Fire Brigades Union announced: "For how long we do not know, as Surrey County Council has only guaranteed the costs of the second fire engine for 12 months... But it's a step in the right direction. Thank you to the hard work of Spelthorne firefighters and their families, our colleagues around the county, Fire Brigades Union representatives and Save Our Services in Surrey."
This victory should give confidence to all those facing a new round of cuts to council services, that if we stand together we can win.
We have to step up our campaign in the face of a growing financial crisis at Surrey council. We will stand shoulder to shoulder with all those fighting cuts and demand central government fully funds local services.
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The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.
The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.
The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.
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In The Socialist 14 February 2018:
Socialist Party news and analysis
We can win the fight for the NHS
Stop press: victory - campaign saves NHS rehab ward
McDonnell says Labour would put services 'irreversibly' in workers' hands
Rent doubles in a decade: cap rents, build council homes!
What we saw: Tory-Blairite EU love-in
Oxfam scandal
Oxfam scandal: we need democratic aid and working class solidarity
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
How should TUSC approach the local elections and Brexit negotiations?
Socialist history
Czechoslovakia 1968: 'Prague Spring' challenges Stalinism
International socialist news and analysis
Brazil: Lula conviction confirmed
Big political strike against Finnish government's attack on unemployed
France: rallies in support of oppressed Kurdish people
Workplace news and analysis
UCU uni strike: coordinate public sector fightback
Sadiq Khan's bus drivers' London licence doesn't go far enough
Newham teachers strike again as anti-academy pressure mounts
Woolwich Crossrail walkouts to demand promised bonuses
Threat of action defeats pay cut at Surrey council
Socialist Party campaigns
Haringey protests HDV - but Labour fails to kill it off completely
Carlisle debate - socialism or social democracy?
Enjoyable and successful Cardiff Refugee Rights gig
Opinion
I'm now a 'manager' and I can barely manage!
In Windsor none of us want to see homeless people on the street
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