The Socialist 12 October 2016

Housing crisis can be beaten

Butterfields victory: housing crisis can be beaten

Tories’ £5bn for housing not enough

Tories whip up division over Brexit...fight for a socialist, internationalist exit

Where next for the BMA junior doctors' dispute

Say no to fracking!

Support the Rotherham 12

Suicidal phone calls: fight to reverse tax credit cuts

Malcolm X: hero of black liberation

Union library campaign strikes blow against Bromley Tories

Bin workers' strike - "about more than just pay"

AMEY = A Massive Empty Yard

Ritzy strikers walk-out and rally

Workplace news in brief

Poland: Mass movement stops total ban on abortion

South Africa: The battle for free education

Shimon Peres - a wolf in sheep's clothing

Lambeth working class demo against cuts and gentrification

Appeal: Don't let the banks wreck our finances!

Momentum should show Blairites the door, not Socialist Party members!

Lobby to keep vital day centre funding

Bradford day centre campaigners meet to fight closure

Fight to save care homes in Carlisle

Cable Street 80th anniversary demo

Attack on young people's health and social care: urgent fightback needed

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MHAGS lobby 6.10.16, photo by A Tice (Click to enlarge)

Lobby in Sheffield to keep vital day centre funding

By Sheffield Socialist Party members

"If it wasn't for MHAGS, I'd be dead" was how Stewart shocked the council chamber. He explained that when he suffered his mental breakdown he would not leave his house, but after the help and support he got from Sheffield Mental Health Action Group here he was addressing the city council from the public gallery.

Around 25 service users came to protest and lobby the council over its decision to withdraw funding to MHAGS from April next year, threatening the continued existence of the group's day centre which provides companionship, food, activities and trips for around 250 people every year.

The Friends of MHAGS campaign has been started to fight these cuts. At the lobby outside the town hall, service users described what the group meant to them, and speakers from Unite Community and Momentum gave support.

MHAGS lobby 6.10.16, photo by A Tice (Click to enlarge)

Inside, MHAGS founder and Socialist Party member Tim Jones gave an impassioned speech in presenting a 700-signature petition demanding the restoration of the meagre £10,500 annual grant, £3,500 of which is paid straight back to the council in rent.

Tim accused the council of marginalising MHAGS over the years by cutting its funding and now locating its day centre outside the city centre and up a steep hill making it inaccessible to many would-be service users.

In reply, Jack Scott, the Labour council cabinet member, acknowledged the work that MHAGS does, admitting that its volunteers save the council and the NHS hundreds of thousands of pounds a year. He also admitted that the council had it in its power to restore MHAGS funding but said that it would be unfair on other voluntary organisations.

In other words, because the Labour council passes on the Tory cuts, voluntary organisations have to compete against each other for a shrinking pot of money.

Service users left the town hall proud of their impact and determined to continue their campaign until the councillors' weasel words are turned into hard cash to keep MHAGS open.

This version of this article was first posted on the Socialist Party website on 7 October 2016 and may vary slightly from the version subsequently printed in The Socialist.

In this issue

Housing crisis

Butterfields victory: housing crisis can be beaten