This Branch Labour Party (BLP) / Constituency Labour Party (CLP) notes local government is suffering a new phase of cuts. Councils face an unprecedented financial crisis as a result of ten years of cuts and the failure of the government to provide funding necessary to cover the financial impact of the pandemic.
This BLP / CLP recognises our criticism of cuts requires action and not just words. A motion from Unison and Unite trade unions, on public services, passed at Labour Party Annual Conference 2021 resolved the Labour Party would: “Build a campaign with trade unions, community and tenant organisations, service users and Labour councillors to fight for the funding necessary to not only stop, but reverse local government cuts.”
This campaign as a minimum, we will demand of the government that it:
1. Honour its commitment to fully fund councils for the extra costs of dealing with the pandemic and lost revenue resulting from the lock-downs.
2. Cancel local authority debt held by the Public Works Loan Board, which will provide Councils with an extra £4.5bn spending power a year, including £1.25bn extra for Housing Revenue Accounts.
3. Provide Councils with £10bn grant a year to fund building 100,000 social rent Council homes annually, addressing the housing crisis and providing socially useful work.
4. Open urgent negotiations on ‘a new financial settlement for local government’ with funding based on measured social needs in each local authority, with an annual assessment to uprate for inflation.
Building resistance aimed at forcing the government into another U-turn is necessary to defend critical services and jobs. It is also the best means of creating conditions which improve our electoral chances by working together with those suffering the consequences of cuts.
We resolve to pass this motion to the Labour Party leadership, National Executive Committee, National Policy Forum and Council Labour Group.
This trade union branch notes local government is suffering a new phase of cuts. Councils face an unprecedented financial crisis through years of cuts and the failure of the government to provide funding necessary to cover the financial impact of the pandemic.
Cuts will lead to jobs losses and worsening staff terms and conditions for our members, as well as the disastrous impact on service users, including many vulnerable people. We recognise our criticism of cuts requires action and not just words. Therefore, we commit through our trade union to building a campaign together with other trade unions, community and tenant organisations, service users, for funding necessary to not only stop, but reverse cuts. As a minimum, we will demand of the government that it:
1. Honour its commitment to fully fund councils for the extra costs of dealing with the pandemic and lost revenue resulting from the lock- downs.
2. Cancel local authority debt held by the Public Works Loan Board, which will provide Councils with an extra £4.5bn spending power a year, including £1.25bn extra for Housing Revenue Accounts.
3. Provide Councils with £10bn grant a year to fund building 100,000 social rent Council homes annually, addressing the housing crisis and providing socially useful work.
4. Open urgent negotiations on ‘a new financial settlement for local government’ with funding based on measured social needs in each local authority, with an annual assessment to uprate for inflation.
We also demand that councillors fight against cuts. This should, as a minimum, include participation in this campaign and meeting demands of our trade union in any negotiations about future local government budgets.
Building resistance aimed at forcing the government into another U-turn is necessary to defend jobs, staff terms and conditions and critical services.
We resolve to send this motion to our trade union leadership, regional trade union body, and local Trades Union Council (TUC). We further resolve to ask the local TUC to pass the motion to the regional Association of Trade Union Councils.