ACTiON SociAlist A YEAR AGO Labour were elected in Liverpool to run the city council. A rotten 10-year alliance of Tories and Liberals had run down services and housing. Fifty thousand jobs had gone down the drain. The last Liberal budget would have meant even more jobs being lost.
rates would have rocketed. When got In It set about icreas ing the number of council jobs and services and in their 1984 budget they turned down any idea to make people pay by raising the rates.
Illegal!' screamed the Liberal-Tory •Stay within the law!' whined the 'moderates'. When the right-wing Labour councillors scabbed on party and refused to support budget they were halled as 'De fiant', "Courageous, and Standing up for common sense', by the bosses and right-wing labour movement. But, in Liverpool, group stuck by their guns. And the people of Liverpool stuck by Labour.
At last week's local elennons about increas ed their majority to 17. holding 58 of the 9] seats on the city council. With a turnout 10 per cent up or last year, the Liberals were reduced to 28 seats and the Tories to 13.
'We proved that we would our word', said Labour leader, John Hamilton. 'No jobs or services were cut and there have been no enormous rate rises'. Deputy leader, Derek Hatton, was even more explicit. "After the 29 March rally — the biggest local general strike ever seen in this country -we knew we had the conpeopie or Liverpool. The vast majority of Liverpool people are saying that they want loos and services and are not prepared to accept the dictates of the government.' that the courts will do the dirty work for him. Jenkin is hoping that, if the city runs out of money because the Tories will starve them of cash - and that councillors are surcharged setting an 'illegal' budget, there will elec tion, in which the 'moderates' will take over.
This pious hope con ceals the Tories nightmare, of having send in puppet commis sioners. backed by troops to run a city against the solid backing of Liverpool workers' for the Labour council.