Hackney must unite against government cuts
George Osborne is currently peddling two political dishonesties. The first is that public spending cuts of this nature and this severity are economically necessary – the age old Tory line that ‘there is no alternative’. This is manifestly untrue – there is no economic requirement to eliminate the structural deficit before 2015, and the burden of deficit reduction does not need to fall so exclusively on cuts to public spending.
There is in fact an alternative as Labour has long proposed: a slower and less severe process of deficit reduction, in which the burden is spread in a more balanced way across spending cuts, tax rises and a proper strategy for restoring economic growth. Indeed in recklessly cutting back in this way the government risks plunging our economy back into recession.
The second dishonesty is that these measures are ‘progressive’, that ‘we are all in this together’. This claim would be laughable were the consequences not so socially destructive. Take the cuts to local government spending, which are being frontloaded this coming year.
Hackney, one of the poorest boroughs in the country, is one of the hardest hit: this April alone we face an 8.9 per cent reduction in ‘spending power’ (and this figure disguises even larger cuts in our local government grant). Look at the list of places facing the biggest cuts of 8.9 per cent: Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Newham, Manchester, Rochdale, Knowsley, Liverpool, St Helens, Doncaster. And those facing the lowest cuts of under one per cent? Poole, Hampshire, West Sussex, Wokingham, Richmond upon Thames, Buckinghamshire, Surrey and Dorset. In fact Dorset is getting an increase. We are all in this together – but some of us are ‘in it’ more than others.
These cuts to local government grants will inevitably have an impact on services here in Hackney. As Labour councillors, working with the Mayor Jules Pipe, our responsibility is to make sure that our most vulnerable people are protected and that we do everything we can to minimise the impact on frontline services. But we now face very difficult years ahead.
It is not just Hackney Council’s funding that is being slashed: Education Maintenance Allowances of up to 30 pounds a week to support students from low income families to stay on in education are being scrapped this year. At BSix College over 70 per cent of students receive the full allowance which helps to cover the costs of travel and study, and creates an incentive for students to stay in education rather than leaving at 16 to find work.
Families in Hackney will be hit by the Government’s cuts to housing benefit: the council estimates that there are around 800 families in the borough who will now find that their level of benefit will not cover the cost of their current rent. If their landlords will not agree to lower the rent levels, these families will be forced out of their homes.
Our job in Hackney is to resist these cuts in every way we can: councillors, trade unions, students, teachers, voluntary sector organisations, progressive political parties and movements of all kinds. We as Labour councillors will play our role in organising the fight back within our communities.
The poorest people in this country are being asked to pay the price for a crisis caused by the irresponsibility and greed of the richest. This government’s strategy is both morally wrong and economically illiterate. The time has come to stand up and fight it.
Rick Muir is a Labour councillor for Hackney Downs ward.
Related: Hackney Council faces ‘difficult decisions’ as cuts loom