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From The Socialist newspaper, 28 February 2018
'Anti-austerity' Bristol Labour passes £34 million cuts budget
Anti-cuts protest, Bristol, 9.9.17, photo Matt Carey (Click to enlarge)
Tom Baldwin, Bristol Socialist Party
Bristol City Council will make another £34 million of cuts in the coming year. This cuts budget was proposed by Labour mayor Marvin Rees and voted for by Labour councillors.
This was despite the intervention of a distraught mother whose daughter had taken her own life a few days before.
Her explanation of the failures of social and mental health services brought home the brutal reality of what austerity means. She said that further cuts would mean "a lot of blood in this council chamber". But still the cuts continue.
Rees even congratulated himself and the council on passing a 'prudent' budget that would protect services! He ignores the fact that he is making the cuts the Tories are demanding. There can be no kind way to make these cuts.
I spoke at the start of the meeting, presenting a petition from the Bristol and District Anti-Cuts Alliance calling for a no-cuts budget. The council has choices and could use its position to resist the cuts.
Bristol council has around £80 million in general reserves and over £200 million in 'usable' reserves, as well as the power to borrow cheaply. By using some of this money it would be entirely possible to set a legal and balanced budget, without cuts, while a mass campaign is built.
It is not just the Socialist Party and the anti-cuts alliance that have put forward this approach. It has even been urged on the mayor by elected bodies of his own party. Yet he still parrots lies about 'illegality' and claims to be powerless in the face of cuts.
We will continue to push for an anti-cuts fight from our council. Even if they don't then we will continue to fight every cut ourselves. We cannot stand to see another worker lose their job. We certainly cannot stand to see another parent lose their child.
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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.
- The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
- When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.
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In The Socialist 28 February 2018:
What we think
Corbyn's customs union dividing line: now stand firm for pro-worker Brexit
Socialist Party news and analysis
Save Our Square occupation: "This land is our land!"
Three major West Wales hospitals could close
Corbyn didn't collaborate with Stalinism - but with Trotskyists against it
Stormzy is right to slam Tories for Grenfell
KFC delivery crisis: make the bosses pay, not the workers!
International Women's Day
Workplace news and analysis
Lecturers strike around country in defence of pensions
University bosses rocked - strikes can save staff pensions!
Unite victory in EDF meter workers' union recognition fight
Labour
Corbynism shows 'Clause IV' still relevant a hundred years on
Socialist Students
Socialist Students conference highlights successful work
International socialist news and analysis
United States: young people demand change after latest mass shooting
Socialist Party campaigns
'Anti-austerity' Bristol Labour passes £34 million cuts budget
Newham: teaching workers and parents determined to halt academies
Building fund appeal: Behind the scenes at the Socialist Party office
Mary Jackson: funeral and memorial meeting
Union-led campaign beats Blairite attacks on homeless
Selling the Socialist in Stoke
Opinion
What's behind the surge in eating disorders?
Socialist anti-war exhibition opens in Kingston
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