Much lo Is James Thatgovernment's South support to local councils. park facilities, innumerable controlled councils ting up lales councis popularity that flows from that.
the Conservative local be responsible That truth should be spelt out.
What for abolition?
government in ine Since 1999 the equivalent or an rate support billion has been cut from government These cutbacks have been made with the aim of confronting Labour only WIln the choice of slashing services or of putwith all the unSome Labour councils have made a wrong choice m puling up ue rale. as a way of fighting cuts..But there Ing should be no ambiguity but that it is not ver tricill. some councils, that al c lucrateccases.
wil be the consequences of If The aim of the Tories is to take local government services out of any local democratic control at all. This will be jacked in order to cut them to pieces.
In London for example there will be a minimum of 24 joint boards controlling education, police, fire vices, public transport. None will be democratically elected.
ample, has been a huge public success. It is a big electoral asset for the Labour Party.
But the Thatcher government is against cheap fares because it wants to run down public transport. By takLondon transport out democratic control, and giving it to non-elected government can destroy the cheap fares policy.
There should be no misunderstanding of the scope of what is involved the present attacks on the Metropolitan Councils, and on rate Lavols. are successtul within ten years British cities will become creasingly like American cities.
There will be public squalor. Elimination of any efficient LADOR. ser- in present inadequate public housing.
Education outside the privileged areas will be shredded.
The only service that will be thriving will be the police — who will be called in supposedly to deal with the mounting crime and vandalism that will result from these policies.
The quality of life in Britain's big cities — and in many other areas of of the country will begin to disintegrate under the Tory the proposals.
What can be done? And can the battle be won?
Precisely because of its scope the attack on the big cities is one of the most explosive issues facing Thatcher. This is why there has been opposition even in- inside the Conservative Party over the government's proposals.
services to meet public Enormous cut backs ever cils Another Tories a quite literally local servatives
Socialist Action 10 February 1984
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The results will be obvious. The cheap fares policy of the GLC, for ex-