Hattersley wait till 1988!

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BETWEEN 1979/80 and 82/3 Government grant in the West Midlands has been cut by 16.7% in real terms whilst total Local Authority income has fallen by 9.6% in real terms. The difference has largely been made up from rent increases said Norman Flynn, opening Regional Labour Party conference on local government.

• Contribution to the Housing Revenue Account has remained more or less static whilst rents have increased over the same period by 30%.

Figures were also given for the effect on jobs. Full time employment has increased slightly in Dudley, Walsall anc West Midlands County, but fallen dramatically in Birmingham. Part time employment on the other hand has increased dramatically as teachers, etc., have been taken on as part timers on short-term contracts.

In addition the MSC will have {1 billion to spend on YTS, which could otherwise have been used by Local Authorities on education. This is an attempt by the Government to bring in a back door curriculum change.

A session on "Privatisation" introduced by NUPE national officer Alistair Macrae lacked mention of the many country which his members have struggles and down the been waging to oppose privatisation by industrial action.

In the workshop on "Finance for Council Housing" Clive Betts, Chair of Sheffield's Housing Committee, outlined what has become known as the 'Sheffield Scheme'. The idea is to have differential rents for council tenants in order benefit from the Government's Unified Housing Benefit.

In Sheffield, rents have gone up £3.55 less than the Government requested. Because the Government pays the rent for those receiving housing benefit, Sheffield is effectively subChris Richardson, 21 Devonshire Promenade, Lenton, Nottingham NG7 2DS. £5 for individuals, or for affiliated organisations, per 1000 members; £2 low-waged ind. ividuals, £1 unwaged. ARTHUR BOUGH reports on a West Midlands conference on local government.

sidising the Government £3.55 for each of its tenants benefit.

The proposal therefore is to increase their rents by £3.50, so that the tenant will be no worse off, but the Council will receive the extra £3.50 in UHB. In return the Council will promise to do minor repairs that normally they do not carry out.

A number of delegates pointed out the administrative problems with such a scheme but the main problem with it is that it is mere tinkering with the real problem.

In effect, like rate rises, it acts as a diversion from the real task which is mobilising Labour Councils, unions and tenants to confront the Tories with a refusal to cut or raise rates/ rents, and to then go bankrupt demanding the Tories pick up the tab.

In the afternoon workshop on Repairs, Dave Church, formerly chair of Walsall Housing Committee stressed the importance of encouraging tenants' collective control over housing management.

He went on to talk about Walsall's policy of decentralisation. Under the scheme wages had increased by approximately 50%, he said, and productivity by over 100%.

The final session of the conference was a speech by Roy Hattersley.

There were a few revealing Freudian slips like "such and such will not happen while I'm writing the Party's policy"

For years people on the left in the Party have been calling on the Party Leadership to organise a national campaign to resist the Tory cuts, and for many years they have failed to do so.

Is it therefore a coincidence that at a time when Liverpool City Council looks like going bankrupt early next year and becoming another Clay Cross, and on the same day that a demonstration was taking place in Liverpool in support of the Council, that Hattersley announced that a national campaign is to be set up?

Yes, Hattersley said, he was in favour of linking up with trade unionists, tenants and local working class communities; but the right time to link up was in five years time on polling day and not before!

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