by Skye Mincher, Tower Hamlets Socialist Party
The higher-ups at domestic violence charity Solace announced cuts to their service, enforcing 33% redundancies of independent domestic violence advisors in January. After months of campaigning, these cuts have been withdrawn.
The Socialist Party and many others, including service users, stood in solidarity with the workers and their union, United Voices of the World (UVW). This victory will save lives.
I was at the first protest with the Socialist Party on 6 February. Seeing the hundreds of supporters gather around and shout up for the jobs of these support workers, and therefore the care of domestic violence victims and survivors, was heartening.
We must not forget that the larger fight is far from over. With violence against women and girls still on the rise, preventing cuts to services like Solace should be the bare minimum.
Photo: Hugo Pierre
Tower Hamlets Council is run by the independent Aspire party. It was elected because local people were sick of Labour and Tory austerity. It has introduced popular policies, like extending free school meals.
Solace is a charity commissioned by the council. The council claims it had not made any cuts to warrant the charity bosses’ decision. But, the question should be, why hasn’t Aspire increased funding?
Keir Starmer has promised to halve violence against women and girls. But it is unclear exactly how he plans to do this.
It’s so dire that it’s considered a “national emergency”. Increasing funding to services such as Solace would be a great place to start. However, the Aspire-run council in Tower Hamlets has decided not to increase funding in light of recent events.
The Home Office is due to release its new strategy to halve violence against women and girls. We would hope to see more social services in this sector. But with Starmer’s Labour implementing austerity, they’re doing the opposite.
This victory for Solace workers shows that when we stand together, we can catalyse change.