The Socialist 27 January 2016

Housing: smash the Tory wrecking bill

Housing: smash the Tory wrecking bill

Davos summit: a broken capitalist system

Google pays pittance for avoiding £2bn tax

Red doors and wristbands scandal

Steelworkers may face benefit cut-off for not seeking bar jobs

Oscars snub black artists: fight racism and austerity in the arts

Labour councillor smears TUSC policy as 'BNP'

Them & Us

Top tweets: #TraditionallySubmissive

Teaching: a perfect storm is brewing

Teachers need national strategy for a national struggle

A day in the life of a teacher and mother

New wave of protests in Tunisia

India: student death exposes caste oppression

Tories 'Prevent' civil liberties

Labour councillor suspended for fighting cuts

Dave Nellist's byelection appeal to Jeremy Corbyn: 'let's discuss how to fight the cuts'

Labour election post-mortem: nothing to report!

The dark arts of Labour's right

Councillors must fight to defend our services

'People's budgets' and local democracy

Lewisham: no backsliding in council cuts fight!

"I have left work many times in tears" - a council worker

Trade union bill will stretch resources and limit action

Birmingham teachers strike to resist academy attack

24-hour tube strike suspended

Care services under threat in Haringey

Workplace news in brief

The end for deep coal mining jobs in Britain

Obituary: Dean Meehan 1962-2016

Letters

Protesting against closure of Huddersfield A&E

Coventry children's services closure protest

New Socialist Party branch fights against St Austell austerity

Socialist Party discusses the fight for socialism

Socialist Students bake-off

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Councillors must fight to defend our services

Protesting against the cuts, photo by Senan (Click to enlarge)

Labour's shadow chancellor John McDonnell, along with local speakers, addressed a North Cambridgeshire Momentum meeting of over 100 in Peterborough on 21 January.

John spoke of the enthusiasm for Jeremy Corbyn's leadership campaign and of plans to change Labour Party policy and to reverse Tory attacks after the 2020 general election.

From the floor Socialist Party member Joe raised the issue of Labour councillors refusing to make further Tory cuts by means of using councils' reserve funds while preparing a national campaign of opposition.

Council officers

In his reply John gave a brief history of the former Greater London Council's consideration of refusing to levy a rate in the 1980s under the Thatcher government.

John claimed that councils' chief financial officers could stop what they thought might be unreasonable use of reserves and then take all financial decisions themselves.

However, as the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition points out, local authorities can set legal, no-cuts balanced 'people's budgets' using reserves and borrowing.

Joe had also made the point that if Labour councillors were to fight then councillors and communities might win, but if they didn't fight would definitely face massive cuts. Indeed, by 2020 a further 40% government cut on top of existing cuts in councils' budgets would mean there were little or no services left to defend!

A significant section of the meeting supported Joe and around three-quarters of the meeting took leaflets for the 27 January local Socialist Party meeting to develop the discussion. About one in eight at the meeting also bought a copy of the Socialist.