Below is the speech I made tonight in Lewisham...
Thank you for inviting me to speak today.
Some here may be surprised that a Labour councillor has been asked to speak to you. Indeed, everyone knows the Labour Party was going to make budget savings across the board if we won the general election, albeit slowly and with a mind to growth. So I am not going to say that the discussions in the Labour Group at Lewisham Town Hall are about a return to 1980s when they are not.
However, there is NOT a single Labour councillor, or the Mayor, that wants to make £60m of cuts…this is an ideological agenda inspired by Thatcherites who have been woken-up by the taste of power. They are intent on not shrinking the budget deficit because it is the right thing to do, but to challenge the ideal of a public sector, the welfare state and public sector workers. Only today have we heard yet again this agenda by the traitor Lord Hutton sending out the message that public sector pensions are somehow costing tax payers vast sums of money. In fact, the average pension in local government is £3,800 a year – and this drops to £2,000 if you look at women only. The average pension for a female NHS worker is £5,000 – but the 'median' is much less: half of all women pensioners who have worked in the NHS get less than £3,500 a year. I wonder just how much Lord Hutton and George Osbourne have stashed away?
You know, it is not just the ideals I don’t like, but the belief that we are all stupid and don’t understand what they are actually doing…
I am sure no-one would disagree who caused the problem and it is NOT librarians, nurses, admin officers, cleaners, postmen and benefit officers…I don’t know who he thinks are tax payers, but if we had to run our public services from the tax revenues of Lord Ashcroft, then we would have no schools, hospitals, roads, pavements or public transport…as it would all be in off-shore tax havens and bank accounts far, far, far away.
You know, I am fed-up of seeing a repeat of the same battles being raged again in the name of balancing the books. I am fed up of seeing yet again the poorest in our society and hard-working people blamed for the greed of the bankers, accountants and financiers who yet again are getting away with deluding and lying to the public.
But, that is fair enough you may say, but what is the ruling group on the council doing? At the beginning I said I was not going to delude you into thinking we are going to mount a Liverpool or Lambeth rebellion against government policies. While I recognise Liverpool in 1980s won concessions, which were short lived, the surcharging of 47 councillors and subsequent prosecutions do not appeal to my colleagues. I say again, the Labour Party in Lewisham does not want to make £60m cuts and this is being forced upon us by the Condem Coalition. I have heard many arguments opposing making any cuts and I sympathise, but the council is required by law to set a balanced budget. As Labour is the controlling administration that falls on the Mayor and the Labour group of councillors. No cuts have yet been decided upon apart from in-year cuts which were particularly unfair to Lewisham and imposed by central government.
I and other fellow councillors ARE trying to persuade the Mayor that there should be:
- No compulsory redundancies
- No more outsourcing
The other parties in Lewisham can vote against anything and remain credible as they do not have the responsibility of making decisions.
However, politicians only make decisions in isolation when they are left without residents speaking-up and demanding leadership. From all levels of the community we must all lobby councillors, the Mayor and council officers in whatever way and repeatedly.
We must engage with community groups, with community leaders, churches and charities to say that everyone has the right to work and to improve their lives. This government must be brought down and the Lib Dem part of it is vulnerable and weak and must be tackled at a local and national level.
In Lewisham, Steve Bullock has publically stated that the poorest and most vulnerable will be protected. This is something that all Labour councillors believe passionately in and the proposals will be scrutinised very closely.
We should all be joining together no matter what our differences are, as this government has an opportunity to dismantle what Thatcher could not.
We have to choose the battles we can win…
If cuts have to happen, then I say lets cut the private sector from the public sector; lets take these cuts to the profit margins of the boardrooms around this country and abroad. Let’s make the private sector in the public sector squeal and get them to campaign on our behalf for no more cuts.
To finish I must quote Tony Benn who asked the powerful five questions:
1. What power have you got?
2. Where did you get it from?
3. In whose interests do you exercise it?
4. To whom are you accountable?
5. How can we get rid of you?
Comrades, and as I am now part of the new generation it is refreshing to be able to say that after a long period of New Labour, only democracy gives us that right. That is why no-one with power likes democracy. When you are afraid of losing your job, when you are afraid about not having enough money to feed your family, when you are so tired at the end of the day, the last thing on your mind is to get up and fight for the NHS or against those with power.
And that is why every generation must struggle to win democracy and to keep it.
This is our struggle from whatever viewpoint or starting point you come from.
We must all work together not just for the right to work, but for the right to live.
Let’s bring this Condem government down.
Thank you.
Thank you for inviting me to speak today.
Some here may be surprised that a Labour councillor has been asked to speak to you. Indeed, everyone knows the Labour Party was going to make budget savings across the board if we won the general election, albeit slowly and with a mind to growth. So I am not going to say that the discussions in the Labour Group at Lewisham Town Hall are about a return to 1980s when they are not.
However, there is NOT a single Labour councillor, or the Mayor, that wants to make £60m of cuts…this is an ideological agenda inspired by Thatcherites who have been woken-up by the taste of power. They are intent on not shrinking the budget deficit because it is the right thing to do, but to challenge the ideal of a public sector, the welfare state and public sector workers. Only today have we heard yet again this agenda by the traitor Lord Hutton sending out the message that public sector pensions are somehow costing tax payers vast sums of money. In fact, the average pension in local government is £3,800 a year – and this drops to £2,000 if you look at women only. The average pension for a female NHS worker is £5,000 – but the 'median' is much less: half of all women pensioners who have worked in the NHS get less than £3,500 a year. I wonder just how much Lord Hutton and George Osbourne have stashed away?
You know, it is not just the ideals I don’t like, but the belief that we are all stupid and don’t understand what they are actually doing…
I am sure no-one would disagree who caused the problem and it is NOT librarians, nurses, admin officers, cleaners, postmen and benefit officers…I don’t know who he thinks are tax payers, but if we had to run our public services from the tax revenues of Lord Ashcroft, then we would have no schools, hospitals, roads, pavements or public transport…as it would all be in off-shore tax havens and bank accounts far, far, far away.
You know, I am fed-up of seeing a repeat of the same battles being raged again in the name of balancing the books. I am fed up of seeing yet again the poorest in our society and hard-working people blamed for the greed of the bankers, accountants and financiers who yet again are getting away with deluding and lying to the public.
But, that is fair enough you may say, but what is the ruling group on the council doing? At the beginning I said I was not going to delude you into thinking we are going to mount a Liverpool or Lambeth rebellion against government policies. While I recognise Liverpool in 1980s won concessions, which were short lived, the surcharging of 47 councillors and subsequent prosecutions do not appeal to my colleagues. I say again, the Labour Party in Lewisham does not want to make £60m cuts and this is being forced upon us by the Condem Coalition. I have heard many arguments opposing making any cuts and I sympathise, but the council is required by law to set a balanced budget. As Labour is the controlling administration that falls on the Mayor and the Labour group of councillors. No cuts have yet been decided upon apart from in-year cuts which were particularly unfair to Lewisham and imposed by central government.
I and other fellow councillors ARE trying to persuade the Mayor that there should be:
- No compulsory redundancies
- No more outsourcing
The other parties in Lewisham can vote against anything and remain credible as they do not have the responsibility of making decisions.
However, politicians only make decisions in isolation when they are left without residents speaking-up and demanding leadership. From all levels of the community we must all lobby councillors, the Mayor and council officers in whatever way and repeatedly.
We must engage with community groups, with community leaders, churches and charities to say that everyone has the right to work and to improve their lives. This government must be brought down and the Lib Dem part of it is vulnerable and weak and must be tackled at a local and national level.
In Lewisham, Steve Bullock has publically stated that the poorest and most vulnerable will be protected. This is something that all Labour councillors believe passionately in and the proposals will be scrutinised very closely.
We should all be joining together no matter what our differences are, as this government has an opportunity to dismantle what Thatcher could not.
We have to choose the battles we can win…
If cuts have to happen, then I say lets cut the private sector from the public sector; lets take these cuts to the profit margins of the boardrooms around this country and abroad. Let’s make the private sector in the public sector squeal and get them to campaign on our behalf for no more cuts.
To finish I must quote Tony Benn who asked the powerful five questions:
1. What power have you got?
2. Where did you get it from?
3. In whose interests do you exercise it?
4. To whom are you accountable?
5. How can we get rid of you?
Comrades, and as I am now part of the new generation it is refreshing to be able to say that after a long period of New Labour, only democracy gives us that right. That is why no-one with power likes democracy. When you are afraid of losing your job, when you are afraid about not having enough money to feed your family, when you are so tired at the end of the day, the last thing on your mind is to get up and fight for the NHS or against those with power.
And that is why every generation must struggle to win democracy and to keep it.
This is our struggle from whatever viewpoint or starting point you come from.
We must all work together not just for the right to work, but for the right to live.
Let’s bring this Condem government down.
Thank you.
RSS Feed