Brent Labour support campaign on cuts but not refusal to implement them

Apparently Cllr Butt recently advised fellow Labour councillors not to read Wembley Matters as it is 'the enemy'. He is still searching for 'leakers' amongst officers, councillors and members.

Anyway, everyone is going to have to be a lot more careful and not leave documents behind after meetings and avoid any other carelessness with information Muhammed deems the public should not know.

Interestingly, at Saturday's All Brent Labour Pary meeting, a motion was put which if published would go some way to improve Brent Council's tarnished reputation over internal policy.

So here it is.

This is the motion put by Kilburn branch:

This all-member forum notes that the £54 million cut in Brent Council’s funding over the next two years, on top of the £89 million already cut since 2010 will have a devastating effect on jobs and services in the borough. We cannot accept that the Labour Party and Labour Council should take responsibility for passing on this attack, which will inevitably hit the most vulnerable in the borough.
This cut in funding is not just a financial attack, but also an ideological one, stemming from the Tories declared aim of cutting back the welfare state, alongside a reduction of local democracy and centralisation. Their model for local government is the one promoted by Tory Barnet, where the role of the Council is simply to award contracts to outside companies.
 
This assault requires a political, not just a managerial, response from the Labour Party, both locally and nationally.
 
Therefore, the Brent Labour Party, together with Brent Labour Councillors, will:
 
1. Mount a campaign informing all residents of the effect which government cuts are having on local services and jobs, encouraging them to become involved in demanding the return of the money from central government:
2. Meet with Council and other trades unionists, service users etc. to urge them to mount a campaign with them against the cuts;
3. Approach other Labour Councils, in London and beyond, urging them to mount a similar campaign and to coordinate our efforts;
4. Incorporate this campaign into our efforts to win the general election, showing how coalition government policy is affecting jobs and services in the borough;
5. Urge, together with others in the labour movement, the national Labour Party to support such a campaign and to commit to restoring local government funding and democracy, including examining ways of placing the cost on the rich and corporations rather than the most vulnerable;
6. As an integral part of this campaign, Brent Labour Councillors will give a commitment to refuse to make the cuts demanded by central government

The leadership argued that they were already doing most of this and successfully substituted an amendment to Point 6, the most radical part of the motion.

I haven't got the exact wording of the amendment (please send it to me if you have it) but it was along the lines of recognising the difficulties councillors face in making the budget decisions and supporting their efforts.

I would support the motion as it was put (retaining the original Point 6) except for widening the appeal to all Councils as many other Councils under different political control, including the Greens in Brighton, want to see the restoration of local government funding and recognise the devastating impact of the Coalition's local government funding cuts.