Camden Budget Cuts – ‘No choice’ councillors resist calls to defy the cuts

Published: 3rd March, 2011
by RICHARD OSLEY

LABOUR Party members in Camden turned down the “chance to become national heroes” on Monday night as they rejected radical alternatives to setting a budget burning libraries, play groups, old people’s lunch clubs and hundreds of council jobs.

As councillors reitera­ted their “no choice” defence while they forced through a budget mapping out nearly £100million of cuts over the next three years, a deputation begged with them to take a more campaigning approach.

It was put to Labour councillors that rather than submit to government diktats to cut, cut and cut again, they could join up with other Labour-controlled areas to create a protest capable of overwhelming Local Government Minister Eric Pickles and the rest of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Coalition. 

This was the stuff of fantasy to those on the Labour benches, but to protesters locked outside and forming a roadblock in Euston Road it offered the only prospect of  “winning”.

Labour members were warned they would be seen to be doing the Coalition’s “dirty work” by passing a budget which has devastated people, from schoolchildren set to lose their after-school clubs, to desperate pensioners in their 90s facing less help. The future of the Great Croft, Hillwood and Henderson Court ser­vices for old people is uncertain after funding cuts. 

Play services, considered vital to working single parents, will also be slashed. 

The Mornington Sports Centre faces the axe too, and Camden is unlikely to keep its full complement of libraries. 

Around 20 per cent of the council workforce meanwhile will go. Actor Roger Lloyd Park, the Only Fools and Horses star who has been instrumental in the campaign against closing libraries, said in a speech that gained in volume with every word uttered: “I acknowledge you are in an impossible position but I want to appeal to you as citizens and as councillors to listen to your conscience and acknowledge your responsibilities to the ratepayers of Camden above your duties to the government. 

“You could be national heroes by setting an example for the rest of the councils around this country by not voting for this. 

“All of you know these cuts stink to high heaven. It is absolutely grotesque that the young, old and infirm pay for the mistakes of the rich and powerful. 

“I’m asking you to think the unthinkable and change the face of British politics over­night.”

Mr Lloyd Pack was one of only a handful of protesters allowed through the tight security.

George Binette, from Unison, said councillors had been cast as “lab technicians in David Cameron’s Big Society experiment” and urged them to “take to the streets like never before,” while former Labour councillor John Lipetz suggested Labour members in Camden and beyond should resign their seats and fight new council elections on an anti-cuts ticket.

The argument, especially among the campaigners locked outside and blocking Euston Road, was that the extreme severity of cutbacks warrants the revival of the spirit of the Suffragettes and the great civil disobedience campaigns of history.

But Labour members say that if they rebelled against Mr Pickles, the government could seize control and set the budget themselves. Either that, they claim, or Camden’s officials will make the decision. Labour leisure chief Councillor Tulip Siddiq told the meetings that officers in her department had suggested much greater closures of libraries than her.

Holding the majority at the Town Hall since last May’s council elections, Labour easily outvoted opposition at­tempts to push through their amendments. 

Dismissing the radical tactics suggested by the deputation, backbench councillor Peter Bray­shaw raised doubts over whether the student protests against tuition fees, for all the large numbers attending, could be classed as a success.

Labour insists that by making the choices over the cuts, it has protected the most vulnerable residents.

Labour leader Councillor Nasim Ali said: “We have had over 50 meetings with local groups since December. We’ve listened to them,  how they value our resource centres for older people. Children’s services and play services. We have always tried to protect the vulnerable and stick to the principle of universal provision.”

Labour chiefs believe the gravity of the cuts has not been fully appreciated because on top of the £30m worth of cuts it will administer this year it is trying to plug the gap to its school rebuilding programme, knocked off course when Education Secretary Michael Gove withdrew a £200million grant last year.

“It is a disgrace that the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats haven’t mentioned that this evening,” said finance chief Councillor Theo Blackwell, who was targeted in a Tory motion calling upon him to resign.

Labour leaders also feel they have not been given enough credit for negotiating a pay deal with chief officers that will see remuneration packages drop eventually by 17 per cent.

And there is concern that not enough credit is being afforded to the £1.5million Labour has set aside as a “people's fund” to deal with unforeseen emergency effects of the budget. 

The Surma Centre, Regent’s Park and the Netherwood Centre for dementia sufferers in West Hampstead may benefit from this. Members say it will stave off closures for some services for the next 12 months, allowing them time to work on rescue packages.

What the politicians said

Nasim Ali, Labour leader: We will not run away from our responsibilities to minimise the impact of the cuts and to try and rebuild our communities in the face of the devastation. We need government that says enough is enough. Let’s  stand up for the public good against private greed.

Theo Blackwell, Labour: We are trying to cushion the blow of massive government cuts. What the Conservatives would do is deteriorate the remaining services and put more vulnerable people at risk.

Keith Moffitt, Lib Dem leader: I cannot let Labour off the hook. We talk about the banking crisis but who was running the country between 1997 and 2010? Who was regulating the banking sector? Did that have nothing to do with the Labour government? The hand-wringing from the opposite side doesn’t wash.

Don Williams, Conservative finance spokesman:  We do not believe the  cabinet has gone far enough to generate new sources of income. We would intensify efforts to make efficiencies. From our proposals you see £200,000 saved from union posts – that is the equivalent to one library. It could keep the Mornington Sports Centre open.

Maya De Souza, Green: The attempts to work with  the community have been extremely limited. There are ways to make savings that don’t hurt as much. We should not be waiting to share services with other councils until the last opportunity. And we should lobby for a higher council tax band.

SEE RELATED:

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