In the light of previous postings on the question of Labour councillors implementing cuts and the Corbyn/McDonnell statement on setting legal budgets, this statement by the Labour Representation Committee throws light on the internal Labour debate.
LRC Executive Committee Statement:
Bring a New Politics into Local Democracy -
On the basis of a hasty and highly selective reading of the letter sent
to Labour councils by Jeremy Corbyn, together with John McDonnell and
Jon Trickett, some right-wingers are claiming that the leadership has
endorsed their existing strategy towards implementing the cuts. Likewise
some sectarian elements on the left have already begun to accuse the
leadership of having made a demoralising climb-down on the issue.
In fact, it is a mistake to see this letter as closing down the debate.
Instead, it represents an implicit critique of the failure of the
previous leadership – under then Shadow Communities and Local Government
Secretary Hilary Benn – for failing to ensure that Labour councils
across the country engaged “community campaigners, council staff who are
under duress as a result of Tory spending cuts, local citizens and
others in defending local services”. The letter opens up the whole
question of introducing a new and more overtly political approach
instead.
It is simply a matter of fact that in the absence of
such a mass campaign any attempt to introduce an illegal budget would be
liable to be overturned, with councillors debarred from office and
spending decisions taken over by the council officers or the Secretary
of State. But the letter precisely goes on to advocate building such a
mass campaign. The role of the LRC and the Labour left is to pressure
our local councils through CLPs and wider campaigning groups including
Momentum, to make sure that the call for such a mass campaign is made
into a reality, and develops to an extent which makes a bolder course of
action possible.
The election of a radical left leadership,
with an overwhelming mandate from members of supporters of the Party,
has changed the situation which the LRC faces. We are now not only
defending the rights of individual councillors to raise the need for
no-cuts budgets, and supporting them in the face of disciplinary
measures – which we will continue to do. Rather, we now have the chance
to develop and implement a strategy for the whole of Labour’s local
government base to resist the cuts in practice. But only by mobilising
significant sections of our communities will this become a practical
option.
In no sense should the existing legal situation be used
as an excuse to implement Tory cuts. If Labour’s new commitment to
being an “anti-austerity” party is to be credible, we need to be
demonstrating at a local level that we are willing in practice to
challenge the imposition of these cuts.
It does not
automatically follow that setting a legal budget means simply passing on
the cuts to our communities. Since they have a disproportionate impact
on women, disabled people and minority ethnic communities, cuts which
would further widen existing inequalities must not be passed on. The
LRC calls on councils to exhaust all available avenues under the law,
including extensive drawing-down of reserves and use of prudential
borrowing powers, to forestall the latest round of cuts while an
effective mass campaign of resistance is built.
In the spirit
of the decision to respect the genuine difference between MPs by giving
them a free vote over the bombing of Syria, we also call for a radical
overhaul of the Councillors’ Contract to ensure that individual
councillors have the freedom to express their views over issues much
closer to home. If the Party can relax the whip on issues of life and
death, surely it might be relaxed on questions like cuts to essential
social care?
At the same time we recognise the dangers of council
leaders and officers interpreting the leadership’s letter as a green
light for continuing with the cuts. Some Labour councillors appear to
need reminding that they are political representatives and not just
competent and compassionate administrators. If Labour fails to respond
to the challenge of building a mass campaign of resistance to
Tory-driven austerity at a local level, the whole question of our
credibility as an “anti-austerity” party will be undermined. We will
look like the kind of party who makes promises in opposition but fails
to deliver on them in power. Worse, if we fail to build a mass campaign
against these Tory cuts, we will have failed to create the political
basis in public opinion for throwing out this government and getting a
radical Corbyn-led Labour government elected.
We cannot stress
enough the urgency of building a broad, united campaign against the Tory
cuts which actively mobilises our communities behind mass resistance.
This would open up new possibilities, including expanding and
democratising the whole budget-setting process by introducing forms of
community participation and deliberation over the needs of their own
communities. This is not the end of the debate, it’s only the
beginning. It’s high time that Labour brought a new politics into local
democracy.
