LABOUR DEFIES PROTESTERS

Published: 2 December, 2010
by RICHARD OSLEY

CAMDEN’S top 10 most senior Labour councillors ignored calls to suspend plans for the deepest cuts in the council’s history late last night (Wednesday) despite a mass protest on the Town Hall’s steps.

The cabinet stood firm in its insistence that it had no other choice than to hack back spending, pressing ahead with cuts that will see play ­centres, libraries and council jobs go.

As security staff pulled down the shutters on the glass doors at the front of the council headquarters in King’s Cross and police ushered hundreds of demonstrators behind barriers in Judd Street, Labour leader Councillor Nasim Ali appeared on the ramp ­leading inside with a megaphone.

“The Con Dem government has put this on us,” he said. “We don’t want to do it. We want to work with you.”

But inside the meeting of the inner cabal of local politicians who hold the final say on council policy, he was warned that patience was wearing thin with the blame game. 

A series of deputations pleaded with councillors to spare a host of services. Tickets to the public gallery were distributed on a first-come, first-served basis – a stark comparison with the interest normally generated by council meetings. Police stood in the foyer. Placards were banned.

George Binette, branch secretary of Camden Unison, the largest union at the Town Hall fighting plans to cut 1,000 posts, said protesters did blame the level of cuts ordered on the Liberal Democrat and Conservative coalition government.

But he warned that they were tired of being “patronised with euph­emisms about efficiency savings” and he called on Labour councillors to “work with the communities that elected them in May”.

Mr Binette said the budget plans should be stalled and councillors should instead organise an anti-cuts conference and “hammer out an alternative solution” with residents.

Candy Udwin, of the Defend Council Housing group, made the same plea to councillors and from the public gallery there were heckles that the party would become “just as much the enemy” if it carried out the cuts.

Play workers warned that working parents would be left with inadequate care for children with the cutting back of  childcare provided by the council, while only safeguarding services for youngsters with disabilities and behavioural problems would “ghettoise the play centres”.

Barry Walden, chairman of Camden Unison, said: “It will leave a situation where if you go to a play centre, people will say that’s only where the naughty kids go. That’s the worst thing for children at that age. They respond much better being around their peers.”

Alan Templeton, from Camden Public Libraries User Group, pleaded for imaginative ways to keep the library service running. He believes sharing the services with Islington could help.

There are tensions within the Labour Party locally about how far to go in protesting about their orders from government. More radical elements have suggested the  “nuclear” option of mass resignations but the bulk of the party warn that attempts to protect most important services would be put at risk if councillors refused to set a legal budget. Some Labour members were even in the chanting crowd standing opposite the Town Hall building, although they insisted their protest was against central government and not their colleagues inside.

Finance chief Councillor Theo Blackwell said: “If we don’t set a budget, it will be taken out of our hands and bureaucrats will do it instead.”

He added: “Camden has been campaigning against the cuts. We are committed to working with the community to come up with a solution. We totally respect where people are coming from. We feel that we are having to take apart services that we have been involved in building up over the years in Camden. 

“Most people didn’t vote Conservative at the election [General Election in May] but we have limited room for manoeuvre now. The Conservatives are using this as a way in which to fundamentally change the direction of the British state. 

“We have to get away from the idea that the council is awash with cash. One in every eight pounds we spend comes from council tax, the rest comes from government – so we are completely constrained in what we do.”

As each cabinet member took a turn to speak, they repeatedly blamed the “Con Dem” government for the cuts, as the debate turned into a succession of politically flavoured speeches.

From the off, Cllr Ali said: “The Con Dem cuts are disgraceful.”

The council has been working on the basis that it must save £80million to £100million over three years. Never before has the council been asked to bridge such a gap.

Lib Dem leader Councillor Keith Moffitt said: “I think we all recognise that whatever party had won the election in May that then there was going to have to be cutbacks, so I don’t think it’s fair to say this is happening because one party or another got elected. 

“Alastair Darling [Labour], when he was chancellor, said the cuts were going to be deeper than under Margaret Thatcher.”

Conservative leader Councillor Andrew Mennear said he agreed with Cllr Blackwell’s analysis of the council’s finances but warned that there needed to be more consultation with residents about where cuts should be made.

That was a more conciliatory tone than the approach taken by his backbencher, Swiss Cottage Councillor Don Williams.

He said after the meeting: “Labour has decided what approach to take. It has to take full responsibility for what it is doing.”