Groucho Marxism

This week I attended a ‘people’s budget’ meeting held by Surrey Trades Council which featured talks by representatives from the Socialist Party of England & Wales, Your Party, the Green Party of England & Wales, and the UK Labour Party. The Socialist Party representative spoke first and began by pointing out that continued low economic growth will almost certainly be used by the government as an excuse to squeeze funding for public services even further. They then said that they although they are encouraged to see left-leaning trends in the Green Party, they are also wary that the Greens are still not committed to reversing cuts to council funding imposed by previous Conservative governments, as well as the current Labour government.

The Your Party representative spoke next and made clear that Your Party will not be standing candidates in the upcoming local elections in Surrey but will instead be looking to support independent candidates. They went on to say that they would like to see the Greens supporting Your Party in future, in the same way that members of Your Party supported the Greens in the recent Gorton & Denton by-election. A common theme that ran throughout their talk was the need for all of us on the left to work together as a united front to combat the stress being put on our public services by repeated budget cuts. They ended their contribution by voicing their support for a budget that puts people’s needs first – in other words, a people’s budget.

Next up was the Green Party representative, already a councillor in Surrey. They agreed with the Your Party representative on the need to form left-wing coalitions, although their focus seemed to be more on stopping Reform rather than properly funding public services. Interestingly, they said that they used to be a member of the Labour party and that they were a Labour councillor, but they were kicked out during the purge of the left that occurred when Starmer took charge of the party. Their proposal for arresting the decline in public services was to bring them back into ownership by the local community; for example, by providing services such as special educational need provision within Surrey rather than contracting them out.

The final speaker was the Labour Party representative, who began by affirming their left-wing credentials, telling us about how they had grown up in one of the most deprived areas of the UK and how they were a lifelong trade unionist. They lamented the loss of Sure Start, a government-funded initiative primarily targeting disadvantaged areas designed to provide support services for parents and children under four years old (or five in some areas). This policy was introduced by Labour in 1998 but was subsequently cut back in 2011 as part of the government’s austerity program. They finished by pointing out their priorities for the Surrey: social housing, public transport, special educational needs, and youth services.

The floor was then opened to allow contributions from the audience. The first of these was from a Socialist Party member, who highlighted  the failure of the Labour party to do anything about the cuts to public services that were imposed by successive Conservative governments. They said that young people are fearful of the future, and face rising accommodation costs as well as rising costs of basic goods and services. These rising costs were exacerbated by the war in Ukraine and are likely to be exacerbated further by the recent outbreak of war in the Middle East. Both of these conflicts are driven by imperialist interests. They went on to argue that Your Party should be standing candidates now to counteract these imperialist forces and that in not doing so they are squandering a historic opportunity.

The next contribution was from another Socialist Party member, who spoke about the difference between schools funded by the local authority and academies, which are essentially privatized schools. The Labour Party representative responded that in their view we shouldn’t have academies at all, and it is appalling that schools are being treated like businesses. As a general rule, they said, schools should never be managed by private companies. In the same vein, they argued that we should also get rid of private schools and that all children should be given equal access to opportunities. A two-tier education system gives an unfair advantage to those children who go to private schools and erodes hope for children who don’t.

This last point was made in response to a pertinent question from another audience member to all the panel: what would you do to bring back hope to young people? The Green Party representative said they would aim to ‘make hope normal again’, by bringing back the politics of care and compassion into communities. The Your Party representative said that young people should be given a seat at the table and asked what changes they would like to see. The Socialist Party member rightly pointed out that what gets most people into politics is seeing what it can achieve. To bring back hope to young people we need to take a bold stance and be clear that we can defeat austerity and provide them with a brighter future. The Socialist Party is the only party that is currently doing that.