27.01.2011

Northampton long haul

Hannah Phipps on the fight against cuts in Northampton

"We don't want anyone believing the cuts are necessary," declared Mark Serwotka of the PCS union. He was joined on the platform in Northampton's historic Guildhall by Tracy Morel of Autism Concern and Mick Kavanagh from the Communication Workers Union national executive. Opening the January 20 meeting, Ron Mendel of Northampton Trades Council called for those present to oppose all cuts and privatisation - "forge unity between providers and users," he urged. On top of county council cuts of £67 million, the borough council is to cut £4.7 million.

Tracy Morel warned of 1.3 million jobs being lost across the public and private sector. There are 1,500 families in Northamptonshire affected by autism and they faced a loss of support if the cuts are implemented. Mick Kavanagh advised the meeting that the government wanted to get its hands on the postal workers' pension fund - worth £25 billion. This was a "government for the rich" and they were seeking to dismantle the Royal Mail. But postal workers had defeated previous attempts to privatise their service and would do so again.

The final platform speaker was comrade Serwotka. Congratulating the meeting on a "fantastic turnout", he called for a discussion about "what we can do". He went on to list some of the attacks planned by the Con Dem coalition: a rise in VAT; reductions in housing benefit and pensions. What the government promised was not a couple of years of pain, but "generations of misery."

Turning to the coalition's junior partner, comrade Serwotka told those assembled the Lib Dems had "lied to the people of Britain". He recounted a post-election meeting he had with the governor of the Bank of England: "What did you say to Nick Clegg to make him change his mind?" he asked him. "Nothing I didn't say publicly before the election," came the reply.

It was the likes of Vodafone and Philip Green who were the 'scroungers', not the people on benefits - we must fight under the banner of 'No to all cuts', the comrade declared. There were no "deserving and undeserving" service-users and we must "stand together to defend our communities". Comrade Serwotka finished by calling for the TUC demonstration of March 26 to be the "biggest in British history".

Speakers from the floor reported libraries threatened with closure, care homes closed, and support services reduced or withdrawn altogether. A recurring theme was the £120 billion 'tax gap' - several people demanded action on tax evaders and the closure of loopholes.

Summing up, comrade Mendel called for patience - we were "in it for the long haul".

Northampton demonstration: Saturday March 12. See www.againstthecuts.blogspot.com for details.