over before it even started. It took just three weeks of a government to achieve the seemingly impossible: in Oxfordshire the Tory Party has produced car window stickers (on blue paper) demanding "STOP THÉ CUTS"!
The Tories have jumped aboard a bandwagon that unites all of the main political parties in Oxfordshire against John Prescott and the new Labour government, after Prescott opted to uphold the Tory "cap" on council spending for the three counties which had asked permission to spend more.
It's a case of New Labour No. Difference for those campaigning in defence of vital public services. While David Blunkett and his colleagues prate on about standards in schools, Oxfordshire children face even larger classes in a fifth successive year of education cuts.
"Reasonable" cuts Blair's deputy prime minister pronounced the Tory cash limits to be "reasonable", despite the fact that they mean additional cuts of £6m in Oxfordshire - on top of a f14m cuts package already being forced through, axing almost every area of council services from school budgets, social services and road repairs to the already decimated arts and leisure budget.
The councils were not asking for any more money from central government, only for Labour to carry out its promise to end the capping of council spending, and allow democratically elected councillors to decide the level of council tax.
But thanks to John Prescott, the county council could be required to refund the princely sum of 54p per week to each Oxfordshire Band D council tax payer, in exchange for sacking more teachers, and closing the school meals service (axing almost 1,000 jobs), closing up to 15 libraries, and closing old people's homes. Smaller, similar cuts will be imFighting council cuts: New Labour is now committed to uphold Tory spending cap, threatening jobs and services The continued clamp on coun cil spending is just one glaring example of New Labour's indifference to the defence of public services and the welfare state. The apparent "radicalism" of the first 30 days in office has been strictly confined to window-dressing and gestures rather than the bread and butter concerns of working people, pensioners and to retrain teachers, reduce class sizes or improve conditions.
Frank Dobson, Health Secretary, won a standing ovation from the servile Royal College of Nursing for boasting that Labour will be as tough as the Tories on NHS pay. Labour's pre-election promises to sweep away the internal market and GP fund-holding have been postponed to the disthat they will cut waiting lists..
Oxfordshire health authority, £8m in the red this year, has cut back on all non-urgent operations and is warning that local Trusts could run out of money to pay wages.
Millions of pensioners struggle on in poverty, the unemployed face increased harassment under the Jobseekers Allowance, and higher education is convulsed an another round of cuts, triggering disputes like the 5-week strike at Southwark College.
Disaster
One month of New Labour is already enough to show that it threatens disaster for working people.
It doesn't have to be like this. A Labour government with a 179-seat majority could easily find the money to rescue and improve the welfare state.
Instead of a government tough on services, tough on the users of services, should be looking to implement some of the many ways they can raise money for welfare spending without taxing individual workers.
A tax on the turnover of multinationals, or on the speculative dealings in the City of London, could deliver billions to fund the services we need and deserve.
This summer's union conferences and Labour conference must break free from the mindless euphoria of the election victory and focus on the fight to make the new Labour government deliver a real break from the old Tory policies.