FORUM - NASIM ALI : Resist Cameron’s ‘right’ revolution

Main Image : 

Published: 24 February, 2011
by NASIM ALI

LAST night Camden Council’s cabinet met for the final time before the budget-setting meeting next week. 

Monday will be a momentous day for our borough and the ramifications will be felt for years to come. 

It will be the culmination of months of work to try and shield Camden’s most vulnerable and squeezed middle from the worst effects of the Conservative/Liberal Democrat government’s savage cuts to local government. 

But Monday will be more than the culmination of an administrative process. 

It marks what must be the beginning of our resistance to David Cameron’s wider project to dismantle the public sector and replace it with a chaotic combination of private companies and 19th-century philanthropy. 

We can see now that the “cuts”, brutal and unnecessary as they are, are just the first stage in a right-wing revolution. 

Thatcher attacked the unions and deregulated the private sector. 

Cameron promises to dismantle the health service, the welfare state and local government; to end the “states monopoly” and privatise the public sector. 

This is really what the Tories mean by the Tory Big Society..

In Camden we know what building civil society is really all about. 

For years, compassionate local people and community groups have worked together through the council to ensure the best schools in inner London, a vibrant tenants’ movement, excellent youth clubs and libraries and a network of community associations unrivalled in London, if not the UK. 

Camden is at the front line of government cuts. 

With more than 70 per cent of our funding reliant on government grants we face a £30million a year revenue deficit (equivalent to 30 per cent a year council tax hike) and a massive gap in our school and housing repairs fund. 

Labour councillors are trying our hardest to ensure the “Camden model” – a progressive council which provide universal services and preserves our social mix. 

Of course, efficiencies can be made at the Town Hall – but they won’t be enough. We will see the number of job posts reduce by 20 per cent (970 workers).  

We will also save more than 17 per cent on senior management costs. 

While our plan means that £23million out of the £35million comes from reducing Town Hall costs – an additional £12million we do have to cut will come directly from services people rely on.   

These are traumatic changes for many people.  

We have held various consultation meetings including area action group meetings and listened to your concerns. This is why we have also established a Camden People’s Fund.

This is a transition fund which we intend to use to cushion the effect of the cuts particularly in adult social care, early years and play; to give people longer to adjust to change and find new ways to preserve valued services.

Finally, as Labour politicians, we also have a duty to stand up to this ideological attack on our public services. 

These are services that were created by a Labour government after the Second World War when our national debt was far greater than any we experience now. 

As a Labour Party we will be distributing leaflets to all residents exposing Tory/Liberal Democrat attacks on our public services and calling on Camden people to join us in the TUC demonstration, March for the Alternative on March 26 against the cuts and in defence of our communities in Camden. 

NASIM ALI OBE 
Leader of Camden Council