by Oscar Parry, Hackney Socialist Party
Zoe Garbett, newly elected Green mayor of Hackney, has given an interview to the Hackney Citizen 100 days after taking office. The Greens swept into power promising to “start the fightback” against Labour austerity.
Labour council to close children’s centres.
Photo: Hackney SP
Zoe says: “I knew the extent of the financial challenge faced by the council. But being up close to facing our financial gap of £53 million over the next three years… is a huge challenge.” But she is wrong when she refers to “the cuts that will have to be made this year.”
Many will have voted Green in Hackney with enthusiasm about the prospect of an anti-austerity fightback. But if the Green council accepts the establishment lie that there is no money, it will simply end up delivering Tory and Labour austerity in a different colour.
What is the alternative?
A socialist council, representing workers and youth, could take a different course: building council homes and creating jobs, reopening youth clubs and hiring workers, while launching a mass campaign to win back funding from central government and the super-rich.
Hackney’s budget should start from what Hackney needs, not what Westminster says is affordable. The council could involve trade unions, community groups and residents in deciding what services the borough needs.
Implying that the Green council is considering making cuts, Zoe tells the interviewer: “We are committed to setting a balanced budget.” The council should follow the policies of the biggest council trade unions by setting a balanced, no-cuts budget. It has over £300 million in reserves and borrowing powers, that should be used in the short-term while building a mass campaign to demand more money.
Councils are responsible for spending of over £100 billion a year, collectively that means enormous potential power. It is therefore positive that Hackney Council is hosting a national anti-austerity summit on 9 September, bringing together councillors, trade unions and campaigners to debate how to fight austerity.
In the 1980s, Liverpool council set a no-cuts needs budget, building a mass movement in support. It built 4,000 council houses, leisure centres, parks and schools, and created 2,000 jobs – winning the equivalent of £200 million today from Thatcher. Socialist Party members will be arguing that councils should ‘take the Liverpool road’ at the anti-austerity summit.
Eye on the Greens
What’s your experience of Green councillors, or young Green campaigners on campus?
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