by James Ivens, London Socialist Party

A growing group of anti-cuts councillors in Redbridge is challenging the ruling Labour group’s austerity measures. Labour’s attempts to stifle debate also provoked disruption of the east London borough’s 27 February budget-setting meeting by community campaigners.

The council could have cancelled £16 million of fresh austerity cuts and taxes with temporary use of reserves. It could have brought proposals to build council homes and compulsory-purchase empty properties, beginning that programme now with borrowing powers. To pay for it – a real fightback.

Redbridge’s leadership makes hollow claims of “lobbying the government for a fairer funding system.” Anti-austerity councillors are instead calling for the council to work with unions and other local authorities to end austerity now: send Westminster the bill, not begging letters!

Cllr Shanell Johnson resigned from Labour in December 2023 in protest at the party’s pro-war, pro-austerity politics. A second Labour councillor, Rosa Gomez, followed suit in June 2024. They are now joined by Cllr Kabir Mahmud, ex-Labour since 2022, to make a group of three anti-austerity, anti-war independents.

Shanell challenged the leadership’s claim at the meeting that councillors had “ample time” to respond to this austerity budget. With documents presented at extremely short notice and only two hours with a finance officer to digest hundreds of pages, anti-austerity councillors were unable to present a motion with their alternative strategy.

It would have exposed £4.5 million in new cuts, mostly to adult social care and children’s and families’ services, as well as £1 million in new parking and traffic charges, and over £10 million in increased council tax and reduced council tax relief. And most importantly, it put a strategy to end austerity and fight for funding.

So petrified of democratic debate are the Labour councillors, they even refused to hear a deputation from local campaigners for extending free school meals and restoring bus services.

The Labour leadership faced immediate challenge. An emergency motion from the floor to suspend standing orders and hear the campaigners’ deputation – present as they were in the public gallery, chanting “let us speak!” – was seconded by Shanell. How did Labour answer this motion? They ruled it out.

“The decision has already been made” – local democracy under austerity politicians in a nutshell. Chants of “shame!” erupted from the public gallery. The mayor instructed the gallery to be silent or be cleared. Campaigners walked out together, with calls of “you’re just the same as the Tories!” and “stop the cuts!”

But the fight is now on. With a group of anti-austerity councillors proposing a fighting strategy, local trade union and community campaigns can now have a voice in the council chamber. This platform in turn could help build those campaigns and push back austerity, linked to a working-class political alternative including at the 2026 local elections. Redbridge Labour may find that not all the decisions are already made!

Protest against the cuts at the next full council meeting:

• Thursday 20 March, 6.30pm
• Redbridge Town Hall, IG1 1DD (side entrance on Oakfield Road)
  

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Save our local bus services

by Liz Martins, Save Our Local Bus Services Campaign Group

Campaigners in North East London are fighting to defend our bus services. Transport for London’s (TfL) divisive and discriminatory imposed changes to services severely affect our daily lives. This includes scrapping the 549 bus running from South Woodford to Loughton every 90 minutes, as well as a redesign of the routes that includes a major reduction of frequency for the W14, and route changes for the W12 and W13, rendering the services unreliable.

We understand that TfL is making changes across London, focused on keeping the most profitable routes, disregarding people’s ability to manage on reduced or withdrawn routes, especially the most vulnerable.

Unbelievably, despite TfL failing to listen to us, the government is citing it as an example of the government’s promise “to allow every community to take back control of local bus services”, included as part of its Bus Services Bill, currently passing through parliament.

We say: give us a genuine democratic say over our bus services. Residents need buses that are frequent, reliable and regular!

Our aim is to get 10,000 signatures on our petition, as a first step towards 100,000 to get our plight raised in Parliament.

• Sign online: change.org/p/save-local-bus-routes-bus-for-local-residents
• Watch our campaign video search: ‘A Bus Route Change DISASTER- Documentary’ on YouTube

Protest at Mayor’s Question Time

• Thursday 20 March – 9.30am protest, 10am-1pm questions, 1-2pm protest
• City Hall, Kamal Chunchie Way, E16 1ZE