Campaigning from Opposition
Fighting Austerity

Councils
Bristol City Council, Islington Council, LGA Labour Group

Labour councillors have been at the frontline of the fight against Tory cuts since austerity began. Labour councillors have organised protests, attended marches, and spoken out against Tory cuts every year since 2010.
In 2017 over 100 Labour council leaders wrote to the Chancellor demanding a decent pay rise for council workers – and Labour councillors voted for a public sector pay cap-busting 4% pay increase for local government workers despite opposition from Tory councils. The LGA Labour Group’s radical manifesto for local government, ‘On Day One’, set out the case for significant re-investment in local government by the next Labour government.
The LGA Labour Group launched the ‘Breaking Point’ campaign in October 2018 to highlight the damage caused to public services by Tory austerity. Over 5,000 Labour councillors signed the ‘Breaking Point’ campaign petition demanding that the Tory Government immediately reverse the £1.3bn cut to council budgets in 2019/20, make an emergency £4bn investment in services to protect vulnerable children and adults, and pledge to use the Spending Review to restore council funding to 2010 levels. Labour Groups across the UK passed motions of support for the campaign, and the Cheshire East Labour Group even managed to get a Breaking Point motion passed despite being in opposition!
Labour Groups up and down the country have campaigned locally too. Islington Labour Group launched their own local campaign ‘The Cuts Don’t Work’ after receiving a 70% cut to their core government funding since 2010, and asking local people to sign their petition. Bristol Council Mayor Marvin Rees organised a mass rally in parliament to protect against the cuts to council budgets.