Candidates sign Stop the Cuts election pledge

Ahead of Thursday’s local election one Labour Party and two Green Party candidates have signed a pledge to vote against any Council budget which will result in cuts to public services.

The declaration is part of an election pledge laid out by the Stop the Cuts Coalition, which wrote to all standing candidates to sign before the crucial local elections.

The pledge, which can be read below, was also backed by seven Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidates, but more interestingly it was backed by Green Party candidates Pip Tindall (East Brighton) and Phelim MacCaffety (Brunswick and Adelaide) and Labour’s Harris Fitch (Woodingdean).

The Trade Unionist signatories are Phil Clarke, Dave Hill and Tony Greenstein (Hollingdean and Stanmer), Dave Bangs (Moulsecoomb and Bevendean), Bill North (East Brighton) and Jon Redford (Hanover and Elm Grove).

The candidates pledged, if elected, to:

· Oppose and vote against any attempts to set Council budgets which will result in cuts to public services and local jobs or a worsening of terms and conditions for council staff;
· Oppose and vote against any attempts to cut or privatise individual public services;
· Oppose any above inflation increase in council tax and instead campaign for a progressive national tax system where the rich pay more;
· Propose an alternative ‘no-cuts’ budget which could involve use of reserves and/or council borrowing powers and a campaign against the government to replace the funding they are cutting from local government;
· Fully support industrial action taken by trade unions to defend their members’ jobs, terms and conditions from cuts;
· Use my position to argue against all cuts and support and publicise campaigns against privatisation and cuts in jobs, services or benefits.

News From Brighton has no independently verified that these candidates have indeed signed the pledge.

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Posted by Joseph Lewis on May 4, 2011. Filed under East Brighton,Hanover & Elm Grove,Hollingdean & Stanmer,Moulsecoomb & Bevendean,Woodingdean. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry