This government’s divided

Published: 20 January, 2011

• I ATTENDED the excellent Camden United Against The Cuts meeting, which you reported in the New Journal on January 13. 

I was inspired to go along by watching the student protesters on the news.

But I could not smell “an unwholesome whiff of rancour” hanging over the meeting which your editorial commented upon.

The meeting was angry – and rightly so. The meeting was determined – and rightly so. And Councillor Theo Blackwell was heckled – and rightly so.

This Labour councillor argued in favour of setting a hack and slash budget for Camden. That would be a terrible strategy for Labour to follow. 

The reason is simple: if you are implementing the cuts, how can you fight them?

This is an unprecedented situation. The proposed cuts are far deeper, wider and more radical than anything attempted by Margaret Thatcher’s government. But they are proposed by a government which is much wobblier, softer and divided than hers ever was.

A great movement will stop them. A big movement of protests and demonstrations and disruptions and occupations and strikes.

But our Labour councillors will not be part of that great movement if they set and implement the Con-Dem cuts here in Camden.

Perhaps they believe they can find the least worst cuts. They cannot. The cuts are just too enormous. There is not a choice to be made. Your job? Your kid’s nursery provision? Your parent’s care resource centre? They are all for the chop. 

The only real choice is to refuse to set a budget of cuts. 

If the Labour councillors did that they would be heroes. They would free themselves to lead the fightback.

Otherwise their position is invidious. If someone is intent on attacking you and your hands are tied together with string the first thing you need to break is the string. 

It would be an awful shame if Camden’s Labour councillors volunteer to be the string.

Perhaps they feel they must be “responsible”. Responsible for what? Cutting our services? 

If we had been “responsible” in 1990, we would still be paying the poll tax. 

If the suffragettes had been “responsible” we would still be waiting for women to get the vote. 

And if the students recently marching had all been “responsible” they would not have sparked this movement into life.

BRYAN SMITH
Brecknock Road, N19