constituency precepting number of authorities.
LaCUC.
there change the them?
We jobs. In my jobs.
struction of set vice speculate about COLECOR O present a united front.
Photo: GM COOKSON menl Higher diture activists, and the community at large for that fight. I believe we have unity on the need to wage the fight. That's the most important thing.
As we proceed through the next few months I believe ours is the most likely tactic to be adopted by a substantial That doesn't mean we won't fight alongside other authorities who prefer to adopt other was We're after posing a problem for the government that it can't duck. If substantial nullet of authorities who may run out of money and default on their debt charges, the government will have to take stock of that. It will have to decide what to do.
Your statement points out that you can't have a united campaign without the rest of the labour movement behind you. Has the statement been discussed with the local government unions? If cluded you run out of money, doesn't that imply you couldn't pay their wages? Surely that can't be a popular strategy with First of all, there has been a great deal of discussion between trade unions and groups throughout London and in the maior Labour authoritie outside the capital. There is a general understanding among town hall trade unions that they are facing a crunch.
In as far as there was no rate capping legislation, the choice facing them was the loss of tens of thousands of own aulonity, Lambeln talking about approximately Unions know that for a council just to accept the government losses and the total In general they don't want to lose their wages, and they don't want to lose their jobs. We believe, together, we can TORY ministers are promoting the recent economic mance as the dawn of a new age. Yet on the Monday after the London Summit the UK's best-known establishment economic commentator, Samual Brittan, predicted slump within 18 months.
JOHN HARRISON and BOB MORGAN unravel the economic developments in the UK.
The economic crash of the first two years oi the Thatcher governmeni bôitomed out in the summer of 1981 companies began running down their stocks more slowly. Modest improve continued into 1982 and 1983 consumer spending provided the main boost. Total consumer expen.
rose by 6.7 per cent between mid-1981 and the end of 1983. Pur chases of cars and other consumer durables shot up over the same period by 29 per cent.
investment also grew. building was buoyant as falling interest rates cheabened mortgages Su vestic l in services also rose in 1982/83, following on v a modest tall over the previous two years. But, in manufacturing, most severely by the crash, investment remained at a very depressed Nevertheless, by the end of 1983 output mad-1981 AITOSL level. Treasury per cent ministers began to perk up. . But, the table shows, things could hardly have gone on getting worse for much longer. The scale of collapse during the Tories' first two vedes Ce no suesestcu uatuc wanted Victorian standards of living to «combay yoda vaes Unemployment had jumped by over a million. Manufacturing industry had declined at a rate which would cause it to disappear in a decade or so. Even the Treasury Civil Service Committee, with a Tory majority, conthat Government policy responsible for over half the new recruits to the dole queues So the economy has merely been inching its wav back trom the worst reces sion since the 1930s. The upturn has also been very unbalanced. The crash had centéred on manufacturing. tight money had pushed the exchange rate through the roof. Companies had Thatcher's economic record % changes GDP (output)
Industrial Production Manufacturing Productior Private Sector Investment Manufacturing Investment Unemployment Output/Worker (Whole Economy)
Output/Worker (Manufacturing)
Source: Economie Trends (April 1984)
Socialist Action 6 July 1984