by Tony Gill, West London Socialist Party
On Wednesday 14 May, a significant number of parents, trade unionists and community activists gathered outside Ealing Council offices to protest plans by the Labour-led council to close 13 of the 25 children’s centres across the borough. These centres provide midwifery, parenting and family support, and perinatal mental health support, among other vital services.
Leading activists for the campaign Save Ealing Children’s Centres revealed that the council has ‘failed to engage’ with the group, and criticised the community consultation process, claiming it was ‘fundamentally dishonest’. There is evidence that the council has already earmarked the savings from closing children’s centres in its budgeting for the next few years. The council can’t hold an open and honest public consultation when it has effectively already banked the cash!
The consultation did show, though, that many families with children under five want services within walking distance. But with the planned closures, some service users will be more than a 45-minute walk away from their nearest centre.
Amidst the speakers were two West London Socialist Party members, Bill Reed and Tony Gill, who highlighted the following:
The closure of the children’s centres is a devastating blow to the most vulnerable families in Ealing, who see the centres as places of safety, support, and community for them and their young children
During 14 years of Tory rule, Labour councils like Ealing said they had to pass on cuts because they weren’t in government. What’s their excuse now? Ealing Labour councillors blindly accept the Starmer’s austerity agenda
It is Unison local government service group policy to call on councils to set legal no-cuts budgets as the first step in building the fightback against job cuts. With skeleton staff operating in many centres already, we need to build a united struggle of workers whose jobs are under threat from the planned closures
They went on to urge that all those present at the demo should consider standing against Labour in next year’s local elections on an anti-austerity platform, fighting against cuts to council services and helping to push forward the building of a new mass workers’ party.
- A further protest is planned for Tuesday 10 June, 6pm at Perceval House, ahead of the next full council meeting