Councillors refuse to register

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whip, Islington council) isers, Councillor John Plant funds from central govert from Newham emphasised ment are now getting littl the continuity of this body more than a half.

LABOUR PARTIES AGAINST THE Conference of delegates from CLPs, LP branches, affiliated trade union branches, Saturday October 30, 10am to 5pm, at County Hall, London SE1. Credentials for delegates from CLPs (two each) and others (1 each), £1 from 107 Neville Road, London N16 OSU. Cheques ® payable to Hackney North and Stoke Newington Sponsors include: Hackney North, Bermondsey, Hornsey, Wood Green, Chipping Barnet, Peckham, vauxnail, orent soun, ısiington ivorın, ana ısiington AT A meeting held in Camden Town Hall on 9 October with Labour councillors from most London of volougiis allu a General Coinmittee delegates, the Association of Socialist Councillors was established.

It agreed to a declaration following some of the same points as the statement supported by over 500 candidates in the May elections, reiterating the refusal to carry out any cuts in services or to be intimidated by the activities of district auditors and adding a clear opposition to witch-hunts in the Labour Party. The ASC itself refused to register.

Introducing the conferanne on haholf rf ite arranWITCH-HUNT Manch-ll Deshe Carth South Labour Parties. from past efforts to develó left wing policies on loc government, notably thos associated with the Socialis Campaign. for Labou Victory, London : Labou Briefing and Target 82.

It was only with th elections of last May that : was possible now to set up body of councillors dete: mined to oppose all cuts an to proceed on the basis c the pre-election declaration.

Islington Council leade Margaret Hodge spoke o the problems faced by a councils in inner city area: All the Tory cuts in publi spending had not affecte what the central governmer itself was spending. But loc government, which when th Tories were elected had bee getting two-thiras ol the 11. 1. . г 11.women's sections, YSs, etc. " Association. Even when the AMA had a Labour majority it had been attempting to find a policy of 'consensus' with local Tories in the face of Tory attacks on all the services.

GLC leader Ken Livingstone also spoke, mainly on ways of getting round some of the impediments placed in the path of socialist councillors by lawyers, full-time officials and others.

He advised on getting lawyers to act not to impede what we wanted to do but in ways that supported our policies. He also outlined methods that had been developed at the GLC to get full-time staff and resources to work alrectly with electea 1 - 13 it-landol councillors rather than to the stifling and conservative bureaucratic procedures.

Many other aspects of what socialist councillors needed to do were put forward in the wide-ranging discussion that followed. There were calls to confront Tebbit's latest so-called training initiatives, the priyatisation schemes of Tory councils, and the secretive procedures that persist in certain Labour Groups.

As Association joint secretary Keith Veness put it in this discussion, the easiest was sit back and let the councils be run on automatic pilot'. As socialists, we needed to challenge established institutions of local government not to mention the vicious attacks of the Tories.

It is to be hoped that this initiative will lead to further discussion on specific policy areas, and in particular on the political issues that will be at the centre of the fight to defend local services against the next onslaught of the Tories.

The joint secretaries of the Association are Keith Veness and Jeremy Corbyn and details are available by writing to Flat C, 155 Green Lanes, London N16 9DB.