(NUT National Executive, porsonal capacity) The 'meltdown' suffered by the Tories in the local elections was, to a large degree, a reflection of the mass opposition to education cuts.
As the unseated Tory leader of one Oxfordshire District Council put it: "Education was an issue in this election.
It is not a matter which the district council has any control over." Nevertheless, the Fight Against Cuts in Education (FACE) pledge, which called for a commitment to improved education funding and legally enforceable class sizes, helped to expose the complicity of many Tory councillors in the current round of swingeing cuts.
The challenge confronting FACE and the teaching unions (most particularly the NUT) is to provide a focus for the opposition to education cuts and to build the broad. based campaign necessary to turn back the tide of Tory attacks.
Network
For FACE the principal task is to develop the network of local campaigns which are emerging up and down the ions. length of Britain, and to ensure that each and every one affiliates and relates to the national campaign.
This is particularly important as governing bodies which have submitted deficit For smaller class r budgets (commonly knows as Needs Related Responsible Budgets) come under pressure from LEAs to implement to all schools. government inspired cuts.
FACE needs to establish effective networks so that tactics for frustrating the imple- on May 13. mentation of cuts can be rapidly disseminated.
The national FACE conference on June 10 is a major priority for enhancing the profile of FACE; equipping ac- the ballot. tivists with the arguments they need to win further support for the campaign; to build the confidence of teachers about to go into action over the funding of education and excessive class size; and to put pressure on the teaching uncampaign.
The NUT ballot for a one-day national strike to launch the political frame. the Union's class-size campaign and against under-funding will open around 15 May.
General Secretary Doug NO Education REDUND -ANCIES WITS McAvoy has already fired the allowed to get off the hook. first salvos against his confer- The second FACE national ence's decision with a mailing demonstration in London on September 30 The left has responded with placed to put education cena follow-up to the Oxfordshire tre-stage prior to the TreasPay & Conditions Conference urer's Autumn statement.
The maximum Material arguing for a 'yes' turn-out on the demonstration vote will be circulated, includ- will also be a warning signal ing direct mailings to schools to an incoming Labour govin areas where the local lead- ernment that we expect eduership may seek to sabotage cation to be one of its major priorities. This means extra money High profile rather than the vague promises we currently receive. FACE has A one-day strike won't, on already established itself as a its own, reverse the Tory offensive against education but long-term campaign.
Labour must acknowledge it will provide the most highthat unless it reverses the profile launch for an ongoing damage inflicted by 16 years of Tory mismanagement it It is essential that education will have to deal with the anis not allowed to drop out of ger of 'Middle England'. Those who ignore this simThe recent elections have ple message will face their shown how vulnerable the Toown "Thursday 4th'. ries are over the issue of education and they must not be Landslide buries By Aidan Salter TORIES IN Greater Manchester were facing VE (Virtual Extinction) day when their 20 year Thatcherite rule of Trafford Council came to a humiliating end.
They lost 32 seats over the county, whilst labour gained 39 seats - strengthening their position in all ten local authorities and taking over Oldham.
The Liberal Democrats not only failed to cash in on the Tory disaster, but lost 6 seats as well. The only BNP candidate - Kevin Henderson in Rochdale Newbold - polled a pathetic 104 votes.
Overall the results reflected national trends: the Tories unpopularity and the Blair roller-coaster.
But the Trafford also reflected anger at the council's cuts in education and social services, and at the Lottery cash scandal engulfis ideally ing local MP Winston Churchill.
Despite a high-profile campaign focussing on local issues and the base as possible a councillor Militant Labour's Margaret Manning lost her Rusholme seat, polling 371 votes to Labour's 1,270.
Labour should not read the results as an endorsement of its local government record. Manchester's Labour Council has cut funding for the voluntary Manchester Tories sector, bringing frontline community organisations to brink of closure.
It has spent millions on the Olympic and Commonwealth Games bids, whilst cutting local leisure facilities.
Support for Labour has risen dramatically over the last few years in middle class suburbs such as Chorlton, Didsbury and Heaton Mersey.
At the same time the Liberal Democrats have made large inroads into working class districts of east Manchester, exploiting the perception that the council has ignored local needs.
Manchester City Council has also come under fire over its transport policy from environmental campaigners and from the Labour chair of its Planning Committee.
High pollution levels and traffic congestion have prompted direct action from cyclists and environmental activists. ' The newly formed Fresh Air Now alliance and the Green Party together fielded 31 candidates in the city's 33 wards.
Riding high on the Blair roller-coaster, it is likely that Labour councils in the region will implement a right-wing agenda incapable of meeting the needs of working-class communities and ethnic minorities.
It is also likely that significant opposition will emerge linking together anti-cuts and environmental campaigns. 4pm Contact: FACE c/o St, Giles County Middle School, Hayes Lane, Exhall, CoventryCV7 9NS. Tel: (0589) 789104.