London Labour Party conference takes place in Haringey on 2 and 3 March. The Clarion has helped promote motions for the conference on a range of issues – council cuts, workers’ rights, opposing Brexit, Sadiq Khan and Transport for London cuts and Labour’s councils and migrants’ rights. We are very pleased that versions of all of them have been submitted.
We will post these motions over the coming week as we get the final texts. Here is the first one – on building a campaign around council cuts/funding, submitted by Tooting CLP.
There are other left initiatives taking place at the conference and we will report on these soon.
BUILD A CAMPAIGN TO STOP AND REVERSE COUNCIL CUTS
Labour council leaders have warned that Tory funding cuts are pushing London councils to “breaking point”.
Cuts since 2010 have seen London councils lose 60p out of every £1 in 2010 core funding. By 2020 cuts will approach 65pc (over £4 billion). Next year London councils face £235 million more cuts, with many hundreds of millions more after that.
This despite rising demand for vital services such as emergency support and child protection.
London councils’ per capita ‘spending power’ has fallen 37pc in real terms, compared to 29pc for the rest of England, at a time when our population is growing rapidly and we already have higher poverty rates.
However, this is not a matter of special pleading: we oppose all cuts and want to win decent funding for the whole country.
We welcome the LGA Labour Group’s call to reverse next year’s planned £1.3 billion cuts; immediately invest £2 billion in children’s services and £2 billion in adult social care to prevent collapse; and, crucially, restore funding to 2010 levels by 2022.
We need the party to lead a vigorous national campaign for these demands. We call on the leadership, council leaders and unions to meet urgently to develop such a campaign.
Meanwhile London Labour will:
• Launch a mass national petition, in electronic and physical form, for these demands.
• Organise a mass London demonstration with these demands, also inviting people from outside London.
• Encourage the holding of meetings in every borough to build the campaign.
Let us know what you think? Write a reply? theclarionmag@gmail.com