May is enormously important to both the Labour party and the communities we seek to protect, and for me they need to be our top priority.
My reason for this is simple: Rome is burning and we must keep our focus on delivering and protecting local services for local people.
The Tories and Lib Dems in government are dismantling and destroying everything in sight, with nothing to replace it. Councils feel the burden of this as much as any. The cuts in council funding highlight the inequality of this government. Despite still being one of the most deprived cities in the country, Nottingham faces a 16.5 per cent cut, while Cameron’s west Oxfordshire is hardly touched and Tory Dorset actually gets an increase. There is a clear correlation that Councils with the greatest deprivation have seen their budgets cut by a greater percentage than rich Tory countries.
If we want to protect the most vulnerable in the face of a government seeking to attack those most in need the hardest, we need more Labour councils and councillors. We need to be making the tough local decisions that soften the impact of these ideological cuts.
Having to cut £60 million over four years is not why Labour councillors sought election, and it’s tough for many to face the horrible choices being forced upon them. But it is in tough times that our values become more important; they shape how we can limit the damage of the national government locally.
In contrast to Labour-led councils, Tory Nottinghamshire County Council began slashing public services as soon as they gained control in 2009. Tories and Lib Dems in local government increasingly seem to revel in the opportunity to exacerbate the unfair nature of the cuts. Labour councils, such as Nottingham, work hard at how to share the burden, protect vital services, make efficiencies and protect local people.
One of the greatest failings of the Labour party in government was to accept the loss of councillors as inevitable, seeing our local power eroded at an alarming rate. Local election setbacks should be anything but inevitable. I work for the Labour group on Nottingham City Council where, in 2007 despite the difficult electoral landscape, we gained four seats, to hold 42 out of 55. A good campaign, well run and with a focused message, ensures maximum return in local elections.
With our communities under attack, the most vulnerable in the firing line like never before and Labour still unsure how to tackle the blaze, we need Labour councils softening the blow.
This is something we must not forget; when the national press fixates on AV we must maintain a strong focus on the opportunity we have to really protect people now. By winning more councillors and Councils we can ensure it’s Labour’s values at a local level working to protect local communities, rather then Tories and Lib Dems seemingly hellbent on destroying the fabric of Britain from top to bottom.