National Delegate Conference 21-24 June 2011

Let's get the messages out there - Cuts are not the cure

Jane Carolan

Kate Ramsden

Stephen Brown

Ian Leech

Gordon McKay

We need to nail the lies and the myths peddled by the Tories and their backers in the right wing press if we are to make the case for the defence of public services.

Jane Carolan, Scottish NEC member told conference this as it overwhelmingly backed a 13 point strategy to fight the cuts and to get the key messages out to our members and the public that cuts are not the cure.

"They are trying to sell us a pig in a poke that this is the big society. That we are all in this together. That the cuts are the only way forward. We need to make a coherent economic argument that there is an alternative", said Jane, pointing out that major economists all have the same viewpoint.

Jane quoted Paul Krugman who has previously won a Nobel prize for economics and said, "Osborne is wrong on the economics - front-loaded spending cuts are the wrong policy for a still-depressed economy."

Jane added, "They tell us that we can't afford our public services. But while people in this hall will pay their taxes week in week out those who are backing the Tories never pay their fair share.The TUC has estimated that £25 billion is lost by tax avoidance every year, plus an additional £8 billion is lost through so called tax planning by wealth individuals, the so called non doms.

"Instead of public adverts humiliating those who rely on the benefit system, I'd love to see adverts naming and shaming those who scam their way out of paying their fair share. Stop the loop holes and tax the rich whether they are corporations or individuals."

Aberdeenshire's Kate Ramsden took up the theme, telling conference that despite all the ConDem rhetoric it is absolutely clear that our economy depends on a healthy public sector. However, her branch was concerned that the ConDem Government was winning the propaganda arguments; that the public, including many of our own members had swallowed whole the myth that we all had to "share the pain" in order to deal with the recession.

"We have worked hard in our branch, as in many others, to challenge these myths and lies and to give our stewards and activists the tools and the information to take forward the alternatives," said Kate.

"This is absolutely vital as already we are seeing the impact of job losses in the public services on local economies."

She told conference that we are NOT all in this together. That these cuts will hit the poor and low paid way more that the rich. Just last week the Institute for Fiscal Studies reported that inflation is almost twice as high in low income households as in wealthier ones.

"Only the very wealthy and the bankers seem to be getting off scot free," slammed Kate.

"It is immoral that bankers are raking in bonuses of £7 billion when our members are being thrown out of work and our public services are being slashed."

She called for work through LabourLink to support and promote a credible political opposition to cuts to public services and Glasgow City's amendment ensures that this should be at both local and national level, regardless of whatever party is in power.

Glasgow’s Ian Leech, in a nod to ‘needs-led’ budgets, asked what those needs were. They were, “our members jobs and the services they provide”.

Stephen Brown, Quarriers Branch highlighted the impact of the cuts on the voluntary sector. Most voluntary sector organisations are facing massive cuts from funders, with cuts of 10-20% the norm.

This is causing massive damage to the sector, the service users and the workers. He slammed the big society and said that it is not a co-incidence that cuts and the big society have come at the same time.

"They are two sides of the same coin - an attack on both the public sector and the voluntary sector. Both are about shrinking the state," said Stephen, calling on members from both the state and the voluntary sector to work together to fight back.

Speaking for the national executive committee (NEC), Scotland's Gordon McKay told delegates that both the Million Voices for Public Services and Public Works campaigns "have worked" in changing public opinion about the cuts. And he added that "polls are now swinging away from the government", before urging activists to maintain the pressure by building the union and the campaign

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