Bristol was dealt a huge blow this week as the council agreed a budget with over £80m cuts to jobs and services. However, the budget meeting we were gave a tiny glimpse of what a determined opposition could have achieved.
Despite a shocking lack of detail,
the budget proposed by the 'independent' Mayor and his cross-party cabinet made
for chilling reading. At stake were up to 1000 jobs and vast swathes of council
services including libraries and care services. But the seriousness of the
situation was lost on most councillors. They laughed and joked or fought staged
skirmishes around the edge of the budget, while 95% of the cuts went virtually
unchallenged.
Confusion reigned in large parts
of the meeting as councillors tied themselves in knots trying to face both ways
at once. The Labour, LibDem and Green groups all announced their intention to
vote against the budget. Panic set in as they realised this would mean the
budget being rejected. Clearly this was intended as a gesture to try keep
themselves 'clean', it wasn't meant to actually stop the cuts!
The Conservative group leader
berated the others for "grandstanding" when they hadn't proposed
significant amendments to the budget and all had members in the cabinet that
was recommending it. He was right but of course, the Tories weren't about to
offer any real opposition. On the contrary, he was keen to see his party's
policies implemented and not above lying to achieve it, falsely claiming that
the budget had to be agreed that night by law.
The meeting was adjourned and
frantic horse-trading began to try and get the budget through. Despite being
told for months that level of cuts was necessary and unchangeable, suddenly an
extra £1.3m could be rustled up in just half an hour. This was the cost of
buying Labour's support. It was a small improvement but the cuts they prevented
were dwarfed by those they voted for. This was a cosmetic concession, £1.3m out
of an £83m cuts budget, when the council is sitting on £200m in reserves! The
overall effects will still be disastrous for the city.
Nevertheless, it shows that
austerity is not the immovable object our councillors would have us believe.
Despite all their crocodile tears about the 'tough decisions' they're being
forced into, they do have the power to oppose cuts.
Imagine how much more could be done
by principled and consistent anti-cuts councillors. The night before the budget
meeting the Council House held a very different event. In a meeting organised
by Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts, Southampton anti-cuts
councillor Keith Morrell gave the example of how councillors can fight cuts. He
was expelled from the Labour Party for voting against cuts but was successful
in campaigning to save a swimming pool in his ward.
Keith explained how the council’s
budget should reflect the city’s needs, not Tory demands for cuts. He and
colleague Don Thomas had put forward an alternative budget that used borrowing
and reserves to protect all jobs and services for a year while a campaign could
be built to win back the money stolen by the Tories.
Campaigns for needs budgets could
force this unpopular government back but we’d be far stronger with political
representatives that were willing to take a stand. Trade Unionists and
Socialists Against Cuts will be standing in every seat in Bristol in May to
offer a genuine anti-cuts alternative.
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