30.03.1995

Shadow chaos

JOHN BERRIDGE of Dundee University political science department explained in The Courier on March 27 the case for local government reorganisation in Scotland, which necessitates next week’s ‘shadow’ elections. As he is a former Conservative branch chairman, I will quote: “The Tories instigated the reorganisation principally for their own political advantage. They wanted local government to be as weak as possible, so it could not present any sort of challenge to them.”

According to Berridge, the new administrations “will have populations too small to support viable individual services in areas such as education and roads.

“If the savings the government say will accrue from the reorganisation are to happen, they will have to come from reduced services, job losses or both. Since staff costs account for such a large proportion of local government expenditure, that’s the most obvious area in which to make savings.”

We know that neither Labour nor the SNP will challenge Whitehall’s power to limit local government expenditure. So a vote for them on April 6 is a vote for poorer services and possibly for your own sacking. Only a struggle by ordinary workers can prevent this from happening. A Communist vote is part of that struggle.

Arthur Lawrence