09.03.1995

A real alternative in Dundee

THE ELECTIONS in Dundee where Mary and Dominic are standing will create new all-purpose councils, abolishing the regions. Labour and SNP councillors are busy nearly killing each other as they squabble over the reduced number of seats, but the reorganisation has much bigger implications for the working class in Dundee.

The services which were previously shared by the regions and districts are threatened with the axe. These include special education facilities and many services in the voluntary sector.

But already services have been cut by SNP and Labour budgets alike. This Thursday councillors meet to discuss a £10 million cut in the education budget.

Under the SNP in Tayside the price of school meals has been put up, but of course wages have not increased and nor has unemployment benefit. Single mothers, unemployed parents and those on the now common poverty wages are expected just to magic up the extra money.

On top of this the council has decided, despite the thousands of empty properties in Dundee, despite the overcrowding and slum conditions many are expected to live in, that it will now not house anyone with rent arrears. Life on the streets is the punishment for poverty in Dundee.

The news is no better for all those caring for the sick or elderly. Home help services will now be charged for. Wardens in sheltered housing are also being cut. Capitalism is no longer willing to give anyone even a half decent life if they cannot fill the bosses’ pockets in return.

As Dominic Handley says, “Labour and the SNP are committed, just like the Tories, to running capitalism. They raise rents, impose the council tax and slash vital services. A vote for a Communist councillor in Lochee is a vote for working class power. We must make decisions about our own lives.”

Helen Ellis