THE Birmingham Community Conference was a success. It took an important first step on the road to building a local campaign in defence of the public sector as part of a national 60 delegates and individuals from a wide variety of organisations decided to set up the campaign and build for a local demonstration. recognising the need for a national perspective it agreed to affiliate to the "Welfare State Network" and the "Campaign to Defend the Welfare State".
Workshops focused on the health service, local authorities and the public utilities. Such was the interest generated that they all over ran. The health service workshop is even exploring holding its own conference.
A general theme emerged of providers and consumers jointly identifying needs and struggling for them. The need for public ownership and reversing privatisation was stressed.
There were varying degrees of emphasis given to the level at which campaigning should be focused, but there was a high degree of unity when it came to the voting in the final plenary. The only exception to this was on the issue of deficit budgeting, where there was a sizeable minority in opposition.
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