The Socialist 6 January 2016

Fight the flood of cuts

2016: Crisis-ridden capitalism will meet with bitter mood of resistance

No retreat on resisting council cuts!

Fight the flood of cuts

Support junior doctors' and student nurses' action

Another black man shot dead by the police

UK's private rail fares six times public rates

Birmingham Labour to axe at least 1,200 jobs in £165m cuts onslaught

UK wage growth will be lowest since 1920s

NHS England chiefs block hospitals from publicising emergencies

What we saw: Sadiq Khan's promises on London transport

Them & Us

Floods, climate change and capitalism

Carlisle Socialist Party's action plan on floods

Profit system exacerbates flooding

Tories' hypocritical green policies pledge

Renationalise the water industry

No government majority as Podemos partially recovers

Union action needed to defeat attack on student nurses

Nationalise rail now! Rail workers strike around the country

Steel: public ownership needed as private buyers threaten pay and pensions

Condescending Tories savage Yorkshire fire service

Workplace news in brief

Dark comic book fantasy throws light on abusive relationships

"I chose to be involved in politics, Michael Crick"

Letters

A 'People's Budget' to defeat cruel cuts

Stop the closure of Calderstones hospital!

2015 marks best fighting fund total this century!

Eleanor Marx: celebrate a life of struggle for socialism

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Carlisle Socialist Party's action plan on flooding

Immediately following the floods Carlisle Socialist Party sent a letter to the local newspaper, extracts of which are below.

Dear Editor,

Carlisle Socialist Party met to draw up the following action plan.

Firstly, our demand for Labour councillors to refuse to implement Osborne's cuts to vital local services in February has become more necessary. The planned cuts to 2,000 Cumbrian jobs and services, be it fire and rescue, care homes, road maintenance, etc, must obviously now be scrapped.

Secondly, Cameron's 27% annual cut to flood defence funding (directly responsible for the flooding of Kendal) must be reversed.

Thirdly, not only do flood walls need to be improved urgently, but the man-made decisions to build on flood plains and to deforest the fells, which caused the rainwater to rush downhill so quickly and spill over the artificially narrowed waterways on lower ground, must be changed.

Instead of subsidising unsustainable hill grazing, the fells should be reforested to hold rainwater longer, with hill farmers offered alternative employment.

Fourthly, the privatised utility infrastructure needs to be renationalised, under the control not only of the workforce but also with elected, accountable representatives of local communities, to make sure they serve those communities and not absentee shareholders' profits.

If United Utilities had released water from already full Thirlmere ahead of the predicted deluge, Keswick wouldn't have been so badly flooded. Electricity substations finally need adequate, overdue flood defences.

Fifthly, there is now the accommodation crisis of the flood victims. Carlisle city council should requisition the 1,586 identified empty properties to house the homeless. Rents should be paid at a market rate by the insurance companies, with low social rents from those who couldn't afford cover.

Last but not least, we need leadership to tackle climate change. If the selfish interests of big oil, big construction and the privatised energy suppliers get in the way, then they must be taken into public ownership.

Big prestige projects like Trident, Heathrow and HS2 should be scrapped to provide public investment funds for the environment and one million green jobs.