Many public sector workers will believe that the defeat of the Tories has removed the biggest obstacle to ending poverty pay and rebuilding vital services.
But nothing has yet changed for Birmingham City Council workers. There is still a moratorium on expenditure that falls outside its legal obligations and the council is still run by commissioners appointed by the previous Tory government.
Birmingham faces the largest proposed cuts in local government history threatening 600 jobs, 25 libraries, fortnightly bin collections, a 50% cut in the youth service and special needs transport, the rundown of the homecare service and complete removal of arts funding. A Labour landslide should mean an end to all of that!
Birmingham council workers and service users haven’t taken these cuts lying down. The unions have organised campaigns of opposition including lobbies of the last two council meetings, at which not a single councillor was prepared to speak to the demonstrators.
The main reason for the council’s financial distress, and the issuing of a section 114 ‘bankruptcy’ notice, is the £1 billion cut from the council’s budget by the Tory government since 2010.
We’ve got rid of the Tories, now we need to get rid of their spending policies! The trade unions should be demanding a reversal of all Tory spending cuts to local government and the withdrawal of the section 114 notices for Birmingham and all other local authorities who have issued them. Starmer’s ‘iron-clad financial discipline’ is completely unacceptable.
It was easy for some trade union leaders to just blame the Tories for the council’s lack of funds. But now we have a Labour government in Westminster.
Rather than ‘give the new Labour government a chance to sort things out’, we need to be telling them what’s needed now to sort things out. Council workers and service users have an urgent need for a big increase in funding for council services. The money is there in the bank accounts of big business and the offshore tax havens of the wealthy!