Local government funding crisis: opposing a new phase of austerity

(Motion to LRC AGM 05.09.20 From Martin Wicks)

This conference of the LRC agrees to support the campaign initiated by the Labour Campaign for Council Housing for cancellation of local authority debt. This would give local authorities an extra £4.5 billion spending power a year.

The financial crisis of local authorities is spiralling out of control. Without radical action there will be a return to austerity in local government, possibly worse than Osborne's version.

Labour needs to demand of the government that it

1) Honours its commitment to support councils when they do 'whatever is needed' to tackle the pandemic. This means covering the cost of increased expenditure and the loss of income resulting from the lock-down.

2) Cancel the local authority debt held by the Public Works Loans Board.

3) Hold urgent discussions on a return to a system of funding for local authorities based on an annual assessment of social needs in each locality.

4) Provide £10 billion grant a year for building social rent council housing, 100,000 a year, which will help to put back to work people who lose their jobs as a result of the economic impact of the pandemic.

Local government unions have a particular responsibility to pick up this issue since it is their members who are carrying out critical work under the most difficult of circumstances. Without debt cancellation some of these members will find themselves redundant and more service users are likely have a service withdrawn. The LRC calls on its supporters in these unions to organise to win them to support for these four demands.

Without a serious campaign to provide the funding necessary to prevent a new phase of austerity in local government (and elsewhere) then Labour councils will implement job and service cuts as those in Luton and Croydon have already begun. Labour's anti-austerity words are meaningless if its councils implement austerity. Blaming the Tories will not wash with its victims. You cannot expect to worsen the plight of the very people who are your supporters and expect them to vote for you because “they have no other choice”.

Please forward any suggested amendments to this motion along with the names of 10 supporting signatories to:

lrc.conferenceinfo2020@gmail.com

Supported by:

Martin Wicks
Harry Stannard
John McGrory
Mick Brooks
Graham Bash
Patrick Hall
Alison McGarry
Terry Conway
Pete Firmin
Ellen Robottom