by James Ivens, Equity and Socialist Party member
The fight is on to save another local cultural centre in Newham, East London. Performing arts union Equity protested outside the Labour council’s cabinet meeting on 3 December, demanding an emergency grant for Applecart Arts.
Applecart is a small theatre and cafe, home to eight arts companies serving an already-deprived borough. It’s a workplace for a constant stream of professional arts workers, direct employer of local workers in other roles, and important community resource for Newham’s working class.
The crisis is immediate cashflow. All Applecart needs is a one-off injection of £100,000. Beyond that, it’s a going concern which can continue operating (on a shoestring) for the foreseeable. Without it, Applecart will close for good at Christmas.
The Labour council and mayor would like to just let it happen. Meanwhile, they had been bidding to become London Borough of Culture 2025! Following their destruction of Stratford Circus arts centre, which Equity also fought, what next from a council that proclaims Newham “the beating heart of London culture”?
But while £100,000 means life or death to a local arts venue, it’s loose change to a local authority. Newham’s 2024 financial statement reported £11 million in general fund reserves. A one-off spend of less than one-tenth of one percent would save Applecart!
The council did not even respond to Equity’s request for a deputation to address the cabinet making this case, a democratic right. Instead, they are preparing to announce £75 million of fresh cuts at the full council meeting on 16 December.
Labour’s ‘flagship’ local authority has dug itself into a £175 million budget hole by accepting years of Tory and now Labour government austerity. By refusing to invest in council housing it has run up a monstrous temporary accommodation bill, the main cause of its immediate crisis.
But Newham still holds those reserves — alongside over £4 billion of assets, and therefore has huge borrowing powers.
Equity has applied to speak at the full council meeting too. Newham Trades Union Council will lead a protest outside, demanding the local authority ends austerity in Newham and joins forces with unions and other councils to win the funding from the new Labour government.
- Protest at Newham Council’s cuts meeting: Monday 16 December, 6pm, Stratford Old Town Hall, London E15 4BQ