As all the political shows wind up for the recess, the school term is out for the hols and political hacks wind down until September, the municipal year ends too. 2010 – 11 is well and truly over. Its passing marks not only the coalition’s first year in office but 12 months in power for many of the Labour councils elected last year on the back of a general election which we lost nationally.
On a personal level my term as deputy mayoress of the London borough of Ealing following Labour retaking the council has ended. No more bling around the neck, or rides in the pimped-up car. Most of all I will miss sitting in the old place at monthly full council meetings to get the best view in the house of the monthly ding-dong (ping pong?) between the parties across the wood panelled chamber of our Victorian gothic town hall. To say I’ve learnt a lot is a huge understatement.
For me the phrase ’Accelerated Culture,’ which has been knocking about since at least the early 1990s, has never seemed more fitting. Not only did the last municipal year whizz by but the rapidity and scale of central government cuts that are taking effect have shocked many. Worse is yet to come but lots of unpalatable measures have been snuck in early with the intention that they will be accepted and long forgotten by the date of the next election, such as the unprecedented VAT rise and cutting back child benefit, penalising single and stay at home parents. Even Thatcher, despite her milk snatching as education secretary, would never have dared to tamper with this universal benefit in such a reckless way as PM. It is a clever move of the coalition to pass the burden of the cuts on to councils by squeezing local government budgets so that Cameron and co’s fingerprints are not easily traceable by voters at first sight.
In the Simpsons the mayor of Springfield’s seal says, ’Corruptus in Extremis’. The yellow-faced blue collar family from across the pond have often captured the mood of the nation with biting satire – even if they are indirectly creatures of Rupert Murdoch. I wouldn’t quite put the antics of the Labour leadership in Ealing that way but they have like all local authorities been under extreme pressure to deliver services with external factors also to contend with – like providing schools to cope with a rising birth rate.
The most notable debate in the chamber has been on the library services. Petitions had been delivered by local mums who spoke passionately on the need to keep smaller branches going while Ealing’s consultation was under way, and named half a dozen that were threatened with closure. Houses in the streets near me started displaying ’Save Northfields Librar’y, A4 window posters referring to our local branch at risk. Through Facebook and my local (Tory) councillor’s blog I saw the campaign gather momentum with plans to chant from the public gallery and unfurl banners on the day. It was a tough one for the Labour administration facing taunts from the Tories of asset-stripping even though the only reason any such thing was floated was due to their party’s dogmatic decisions at the top.
In the end Ealing decided to close none of the libraries on the list but the mobile provision will be cut and in a dangerously ’big society’ way it looks like volunteers will staff some of the branches some of the time – not good from a unionised workforce point of view but a necessary compromise. The management structure too is being pared back. Admittedly, if we were starting libraries from scratch they probably would not look like the 19th century version that continues to dictate current practice.
As I say, I’ve learned loads and it’s a curve that never stops. By the way, residents of Northfields you can take your posters down now. On this particular issue, war is over (if you want it to be).
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Rupa Huq blogs at www.rupahuq.co.uk