The financial crisis shook the foundations of our communities, and the ongoing effects of the recession will affect public spending for years to come. For local councils across the country, the pressure to meet the public’s rightly high expectations for quality public services with tightening funds will require new approaches and some tough choices.

But let’s be clear. The challenges that confront us call for more than just a managerial response. Now is not the time to retreat from our values for the sake of expediency. Nor is it justifiable to stand back from the communities we represent in the name of savings. Local Labour must be explicit about the core principles that drive us, and guide the decisions we take. As we approach important English local elections and the most closely fought general election for a generation, the choice facing the public is stark, the options unavoidably political.

For the Tories have set out a very clear route, which they are intent on pursuing. The ‘no frills’ EasyCouncil model pioneered in Barnet, whose influence can be seen in key Tory-controlled councils across the country, is an unashamedly ideological exercise pursued under the guise of efficiency. A bare minimum of service provision is offered with upgrades at an extra cost. This hits the vulnerable the hardest, pushing services out of reach for those who need them the most.

Local Labour will not let this approach go unchallenged. We want to protect frontline services, and see a very clear role for councils to help build stronger communities, local leadership and services that are more responsive to local needs. That is why today 115 Labour town hall leaders across the country have committed to become cooperative councils by signing up to a radical mission statement.

This statement makes clear that the cooperative values of fairness, accountability and responsibility will guide our actions. The current climate calls for a more innovative approach that seeks new ways of delivering services, involving citizens to give them real power over the nature and shape of the services they need. This means that we favour a mixed economy of provision, with different models including cooperatives, mutuals and other forms of service user involvement, all used where appropriate.

In town halls across the country, Labour councillor groups are putting these values into practice. Residents in Lambeth have benefitted from assets transferred to the community, including old school sites and land trusts, meaning local people themselves decide what these sites are used for. In Salford, sport facilities including swimming pools are run by a community benefit society which is owned and controlled by users, staff and local residents. In Croydon, while the Tory-run council has shut down two local schools, Croydon Labour have committed to setting up a cooperative trust school which would engage more local parents in the running of the school and give them a more direct say in their children’s education.

Local Labour sees that councils have a strong role to play as a provider as well as providing quality assurance and mediating the market. It would be a great mistake for councils to vacate the field to external providers, as the experience of residential care provision demonstrates. Commissioning should encourage small local third sector organisations, with their capacity to innovate, to participate. Councils should use their power to set standards locally with a local living wage and good conditions for their employees, and should use their procurement leverage to guarantee the same for outside agencies with whom they work. Accountability through a properly resourced council scrutiny function including service users and carers will be essential.

Local Labour will strive to ensure that services are run in the interests of the whole community, not narrow sectional interests. Those who are most vulnerable and have the most to gain from good quality services will not be sidelined in the pursuit of savings or cuts. We will put long-term social benefit ahead of short-term private gain. As the country faces a unique crossroads in the political landscape, the message from Local Labour is clear: we will stand by, not stand back from, the communities we represent.

The financial crisis shook the foundations of our communities, and the ongoing effects of the recession will affect public spending for years to come. For local councils across the country, the pressure to meet the public’s rightly high expectations for quality public services with tightening funds will require new approaches and some tough choices.

But let’s be clear. The challenges that confront us call for more than just a managerial response. Now is not the time to retreat from our values for the sake of expediency. Nor is it justifiable to stand back from the communities we represent in the name of savings. Local Labour must be explicit about the core principles that drive us, and guide the decisions we take. As we approach important English local elections and the most closely fought general election for a generation, the choice facing the public is stark, the options unavoidably political.

For the Tories have set out a very clear route, which they are intent on pursuing. The ‘no frills’ EasyCouncil model pioneered in Barnet, whose influence can be seen in key Tory-controlled councils across the country, is an unashamedly ideological exercise pursued under the guise of efficiency. A bare minimum of service provision is offered with upgrades at an extra cost. This hits the vulnerable the hardest, pushing services out of reach for those who need them the most.

Local Labour will not let this approach go unchallenged. We want to protect frontline services, and see a very clear role for councils to help build stronger communities, local leadership and services that are more responsive to local needs. That is why today 115 Labour town hall leaders across the country have committed to become cooperative councils by signing up to a radical mission statement.

This statement makes clear that the cooperative values of fairness, accountability and responsibility will guide our actions. The current climate calls for a more innovative approach that seeks new ways of delivering services, involving citizens to give them real power over the nature and shape of the services they need. This means that we favour a mixed economy of provision, with different models including cooperatives, mutuals and other forms of service user involvement, all used where appropriate.

In town halls across the country, Labour councillor groups are putting these values into practice. Residents in Lambeth have benefitted from assets transferred to the community, including old school sites and land trusts, meaning local people themselves decide what these sites are used for. In Salford, sport facilities including swimming pools are run by a community benefit society which is owned and controlled by users, staff and local residents. In Croydon, while the Tory-run council has shut down two local schools, Croydon Labour have committed to setting up a cooperative trust school which would engage more local parents in the running of the school and give them a more direct say in their children’s education.

Local Labour sees that councils have a strong role to play as a provider as well as providing quality assurance and mediating the market. It would be a great mistake for councils to vacate the field to external providers, as the experience of residential care provision demonstrates. Commissioning should encourage small local third sector organisations, with their capacity to innovate, to participate. Councils should use their power to set standards locally with a local living wage and good conditions for their employees, and should use their procurement leverage to guarantee the same for outside agencies with whom they work. Accountability through a properly resourced council scrutiny function including service users and carers will be essential.

Local Labour will strive to ensure that services are run in the interests of the whole community, not narrow sectional interests. Those who are most vulnerable and have the most to gain from good quality services will not be sidelined in the pursuit of savings or cuts. We will put long-term social benefit ahead of short-term private gain. As the country faces a unique crossroads in the political landscape, the message from Local Labour is clear: we will stand by, not stand back from, the communities we represent.

The financial crisis shook the foundations of our communities, and the ongoing effects of the recession will affect public spending for years to come. For local councils across the country, the pressure to meet the public’s rightly high expectations for quality public services with tightening funds will require new approaches and some tough choices.

But let’s be clear. The challenges that confront us call for more than just a managerial response. Now is not the time to retreat from our values for the sake of expediency. Nor is it justifiable to stand back from the communities we represent in the name of savings. Local Labour must be explicit about the core principles that drive us, and guide the decisions we take. As we approach important English local elections and the most closely fought general election for a generation, the choice facing the public is stark, the options unavoidably political.

For the Tories have set out a very clear route, which they are intent on pursuing. The ‘no frills’ EasyCouncil model pioneered in Barnet, whose influence can be seen in key Tory-controlled councils across the country, is an unashamedly ideological exercise pursued under the guise of efficiency. A bare minimum of service provision is offered with upgrades at an extra cost. This hits the vulnerable the hardest, pushing services out of reach for those who need them the most.

Local Labour will not let this approach go unchallenged. We want to protect frontline services, and see a very clear role for councils to help build stronger communities, local leadership and services that are more responsive to local needs. That is why today 115 Labour town hall leaders across the country have committed to become cooperative councils by signing up to a radical mission statement [LINK].

This statement makes clear that the cooperative values of fairness, accountability and responsibility will guide our actions. The current climate calls for a more innovative approach that seeks new ways of delivering services, involving citizens to give them real power over the nature and shape of the services they need. This means that we favour a mixed economy of provision, with different models including cooperatives, mutuals and other forms of service user involvement, all used where appropriate.

In town halls across the country, Labour councillor groups are putting these values into practice. Residents in Lambeth have benefitted from assets transferred to the community, including old school sites and land trusts, meaning local people themselves decide what these sites are used for. In Salford, sport facilities including swimming pools are run by a community benefit society which is owned and controlled by users, staff and local residents. In Croydon, while the Tory-run council has shut down two local schools, Croydon Labour have committed to setting up a co-operative trust school which would engage more local parents in the running of the school and give them a more direct say in their children’s education.

Local Labour sees that councils have a strong role to play as a provider as well as providing quality assurance and mediating the market. It would be a great mistake for councils to vacate the field to external providers, as the experience of residential care provision demonstrates. Commissioning should encourage small local third sector organisations, with their capacity to innovate, to participate. Councils should use their power to set standards locally with a local living wage and good conditions for their employees, and should use their procurement leverage to guarantee the same for outside agencies with whom they work. Accountability through a properly resourced council scrutiny function including service users and carers will be essential.

Local Labour will strive to ensure that services are run in the interests of the whole community, not narrow sectional interests. Those who are most vulnerable and have the most to gain from good quality services will not be sidelined in the pursuit of savings or cuts. We will put long-term social benefit ahead of short-term private gain. As the country faces a unique crossroads in the political landscape, the message from Local Labour is clear: we will stand by, not stand back from, the communities we represent.