by Paul Kershaw, Enfield and Lea Valley Socialist Party
Labour lost control of Enfield council in the May local elections. Years of disappointment and cuts meant support collapsed, as in so many councils. Added factors have been plans to enclose some public land to be taken over as a training facility by Tottenham Hotspur FC and for more green land to be built on to create a new town, with no convincing assurances about affordability. Local Tory canvassers called for a Tory vote to save public land from privatisation!
Such was the scale of Labour’s collapse, the Tories gained six seats, despite themselves suffering a reduction of the vote share, and finished one seat short of an overall majority. Five Greens were elected.
People’s Budget
In the run-up to the elections, a ‘Peoples Budget’ meeting drew trade unionists from the trades council and other campaigners together to set out priorities in Enfield. After the election result, a public letter was sent to the Greens pointing out those key priorities and arguing that the peoples budget demands “should form part of a policy platform to be put forward by you as the basis for any negotiations with Labour,” and to “make opposition to all cuts your starting point for any negotiations about forming a new administration or for how you work with other parties in the council.”
At the first meeting of the new council, the Greens abstained on the leadership vote which enabled the Tories to take control. They say they will vote on a case-by-case basis.
The Greens have opposed the new town development so have common ground with the new administration on the decision to oppose the new town, which will bring the council into conflict with the government and Labour Mayor of London.
Homes we need
Experts have identified enough ‘brownfield’ sites in Enfield where much needed new council homes could be built without the need to build on the Green Belt at all. Stopping a bad development is not enough, Enfield needs decent affordable homes. The Labour council had been criticised for forcing homeless people out of the borough – sometimes by hundreds of miles. Enfield Council ended its legal homelessness duties to 115 families in a single year because they refused housing offers located outside the borough. This was the highest figure of any local authority in England. Any anti-austerity councillor should demand an end to this scandal.
The Greens won their seats because many saw them as an anti-austerity alternative and local campaigners are holding them to account. If the Greens stand up for local communities, campaigners will be shoulder to shoulder with them. If they retreat, the fight will not stop.