If Labour can’t lead the protest against cuts, who will?

Published: 23 September, 2010
EDITOR'S COMMENT

THE Labour council is walking on eggshells.

Faced with the withdrawal of government funds for specific projects, Labour feels it can do nothing else than allow such projects to shut down.

Meanwhile, both the Lib-Dems and Tories wring their hands and confess the cuts will be painful.

And don’t resist them, warn the Tories.

Both of these parties clearly accept the Coalition’s scorched earth policy of deficit-cutting as the only course to follow.

There is no alternative, they say, just as Margaret Thatcher said the same of her policies – that is until her colleague ditched her, and found alternative courses.

And who is to blame for our state of affairs? To both the Lib-Dems and the Tories, Gordon Brown is the fall guy.

In this propaganda fog of words, no mention is made of the real guilty men – the bankers who landed Britain in this disaster. Nor, apart from a relatively small tax suggested by Vince Cable, are they being made to pay for the mess.

Foxed as they may be at the moment, the public will, hopefully, sooner or later, see who are the real culprits.

Labour at the Town Hall have already agreed to surrender government-funded projects.

Their target is to try and maintain basic front-line services.

How? By becoming, in effect, a property developer.

With hundreds of disposable properties and small sites on their books, Labour hope to stave off deep economies by paying for them through a massive sale. As a stop-gap measure this may work.

Who will mastermind the sale? It would be a gross mistake for Labour to leave this to their officers.

This is no reflection on the expertise of officers.

To bring this off, what would be required is a sharp business acumen married to the mind of a political reformer.

This person is hardly likely to be found among officers, nor should one expect to find one there.

A rare candidate would be required.

The success or failure of Labour’s strategy turns on this appointment.

In the meantime, fearful staff of front-line services, as well as Labour Party members and, probably, not a few Lib-Dem supporters who do not buy the Coalition’s economic policy, will expect Labour to spearhead a public campaign of protest.

Unless, Labour combine both tactics – a sale of redundant properties, linked to a tweaking of existing services, along with a public campaign – it will run into trouble.