Local Councils

On Thursday, 21 March, a small group of noisy children, parents and library campaigners marched to the threatened local library in the Meadows area of Nottingham. That library and all the libraries in the city must remain open. On the same day a meeting of over 40 Save Our Services supporters met to discuss next steps in the wider campaign in defence of services in Nottingham, which have been decimated as a result of cuts in Government grant amounting to more than £1 billion since 2010. In collaboration with “Friends of Meadows Library”, a public meeting has been called for Tuesday 16 April in...

Introducing the term “freedom-restricting harassment” (FRH), Sara Khan, the Independent Adviser to Government for Social Cohesion and Democratic Resilience, finds that threatening, abusive and intimidating behaviour directed at people because of their views is “shockingly widespread” both online and in real life. 85% of people surveyed believe FRH takes place and 76% report having restricted their expression of personal views in public for fear of such harassment. The government published her report on 25 March. She cites journalists, arts and culture workers, teachers and local faith leaders...

On Monday 4 March, Councillor Shuguftah Quddoos, the Sheriff of Nottingham, was the only councillor in the city to vote against the Government-imposed cuts. Her speech was a simple but powerful message to her fellow Labour councillors, delivered to those outside City Hall and later in the council chamber itself. “Kids in care, people in temporary accommodation, vulnerable adults, our social workers, social housing tenants, our charities and volunteers, our artists and protectors of culture, do not have a vote. But I do, and I will vote against this budget today. It’s true that Nottingham has...

At the Yorkshire and Humber TUC conference on 16-17 March, Leeds City Council leader James Lewis said his council would never use the Tories’ Minimum Service Act, which lets the government set “minimum service” levels in various sectors and then employers issue “work notices” to oblige named workers to break strikes to deliver those levels. There will be a formal vote on this at a full council meeting on 20 March, though the wording looks unclear. On 9 December 2023 Lewis joined with several other Labour council leaders and mayors to declare : “We will work with trades unions and employers to...

The right-wing Labour council group in Lambeth, south London, has suspended four councillors from the Labour whip for defying orders to vote against a Green motion (in January) for a ceasefire in Gaza. The suspension came on 26 February — after the whole Labour leadership had come out for an immediate ceasefire (21 February) and long after London Labour mayor Sadiq Khan and several Labour councils had made that call. Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Labour MP for one of the Lambeth constituencies, has condemned the suspensions. Sonia Winifred, suspended for three months, has resigned from her council seat...

On Saturday morning, February 24, an emergency protest in Nottingham denounced the imposition of commissioners to run the city council. The move for commissioners, three months after the council’s Chief Finance Officer declared the council unable to balance its budget (“section 114”) on 29 November, and a year after an external Interim Advisory Board gained “powers of direction” over the council, may show concern in government that a growing campaign in Nottingham has the potential to mobilise many people in the city against cuts. One councillor has already said she will vote against the cuts...

An estimated 150,000 workers took part in 24 hours strike in the North of Ireland on 18 January, including nurses, teachers, bus drivers, carers, cleaners and civil servants from 16 unions. Their core demand was aimed at the British government: to release the £0.6m for public sector pay uplifts which it is holding back as a gambit to pressure the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to end its boycott of Stormont. The party collapsed the Northern Ireland power-sharing regime in February 2022 in protest against the Northern Ireland Protocol. Around 10,000 joined a rally in Belfast, with...

On Thursday 18 January, more than 50 people met on a cold night to discuss how we fight the horrendous cuts In Nottingham

On 29 November Nottingham’s Labour council issued a “section 114” notice, meaning that it is legally barred from any spending beyond the already-contracted-for and work the council has to do by law. The council’s (unelected) chief finance officer issued the notice, as he is obliged to do by law if he assesses that the council cannot balance its budget. The council is now legally obliged to come up with budget-balancing moves within 14 days. That makes 12 councils since 2018 to do section 114. There were only two in the previous 18 years. There is talk of many more soon. Council leaders...

Discussion at The World Transformed (TWT) festival that took place alongside Labour Party conference (7-10 October) reinforced how disoriented much of the left is on local government. The TWT session on “ecosocialism” — really more about local community organising — featured a speaker from “Cooperation Hull”, a group of activists who have organised meetings they call “People’s Assemblies” in the town and are now planning to stand in local elections there. Some of the organising Cooperation Hull has done sounded interesting and even impressive, but what their speaker said begged many questions...