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 the Meadows Queens Walk Community Centre, also threatened with the axe. In a few days thousands of flyers have been distributed in the area and there is a growing mood to fight the cuts across the city, with similar public meetings likely to take place in other areas.
Meanwhile in the Labour Party there are growing signs of discontent, particularly focussed on the failure of the leadership to promise anything by way of financial relief to struggling councils, with Rachel Reeves talking economic nonsense about the country’s credit card being “maxed out”. The Nottingham Save Our Services Campaign rightly demanded that Labour councillors voted against the cuts on budget day, especially after 22 February, when commissioners took control of the council, and councillors had no reason to retain ownership or responsibility for the government-imposed cuts budget.
One councillor, Shuguftah Quddoos, the Sheriff of Nottingham, voted against the cuts on 4 March. Shuguftah will speak at the public meeting on 16 April and is receiving positive support in and out of the Labour Party. Other Labour Councillors are increasingly recognising that these cuts must be opposed. With the budget vote now history these councillors must find their voices and come out en bloc in demanding that an incoming Labour Government reverses the cuts and restores the millions stolen from councils since 2010.
There is still no sign that the big three local government unions — Unison, GMB and Unite — are mounting any kind of national campaign to defend local democracy and local government services or put any serious pressure on the Labour Party. Members of those unions, and the wider Labour Movement, would be right to ask where are the union leaflets, newspaper adverts and national demonstrations demanding an end to council cuts.
There are promising signs in Nottingham but there is also much work to be done, especially inside the organised labour movement, including the Labour Party.