CONDEM GOVERNMENT - THE FRIEND OF TAX DODGERS?

Withdraw Proposal To Cease The Whole Of The Youth Service In Warwickshire petition

Withdraw Proposal To Cease The Whole Of The Youth Service In Warwickshire petition
Category: Youth Issues

Region: Warwickshire
Target: Councillor Alan Farnell Leader of Warwickshire County Council

Why the 'Withdraw proposal to cease the whole of the Youth Service in Warwickshire petition' was created

We the undersigned are outraged at Warwickshire County Council’s proposal to:
“Cease the whole of the Youth Service”.
We know how vulnerable young people can be. However, Warwickshire County Council is withdrawing the very service that is proven to work successfully alongside them.
We consider that this proposal contradicts the leader of the Council, Councillor Alan Farnell’s claim to “protect the most vulnerable and the front-line services that support them,” and we are calling for its immediate withdrawal.

Please visit this site to add your name http://www.petition.co.uk/withdraw-proposal-to-cease-the-whole-of-the-youth-service-in-warwickshire

Save the EMA day of action | 13 December

The Educational Maintenance Allowance is a small grant available young people aged 16-19 who stay on in education. It is means-tested and students can receive between £10 and £30 a week. Last year, 635,000 students received EMA and 80% of these received the full £30. In Leicester, as many as 4/5 students receive it.

The government plans to completely scrap the EMA, despite a pre-election promise from Michael Gove - anybody see a trend here? This will have a massive impact of young people from poorer backgrounds, some of whom will simply not be able to afford to stay in education. This is turn will put more jobs at risk.

35,000 students protest outside parliament as fees debated

On Thursday 9 December, while parliament debated the Con-Dem coalition government's plan to treble university tuition fees, a fourth day of angry protests took place across the country. The debate ended with MPs disgracefully voting to increase fees to a higher limit of £9,000 a year, with 323 in favour and 302 against, and so the campaigning against this attack must now continue and be stepped up.
In central London, 35,000 students and education workers, many from outside London, marched to parliament to show their strong opposition to education cuts and increased tuition fees.
However, demonstrators were faced with very heavy policing, and the use again by the police of kettling, on what was a very cold day.

The recently launched Youth Fight for Education campaign (YFE) held an impromtu rally during the demonstration, with speakers from the YFE campaign itself, London RMT regional secretary Steve Hedley, and student activists from Hull, Cardiff, London and elsewhere.
As well as fighting against higher fees, YFE is demanding that the educational maintenance allowance (EMA) is retained and that teachers and lecturers' jobs are not cut.
YFE promised that if parliament voted for higher fees, the campaign against this attack would go on, as will campaigning against all the other attacks on education.

Protests elsewhere in the country included: 2,000 marching in Newcastle, 300 protesting in Swansea; a 50-strong demonstration in Leicester; 250 school and college students marching through Coventry - including 25 'year 11s' who walked out of Coundon Court school.

LIB DEMS HIT 8% IN POLLS

Tonight’s YouGov poll for the Sun has topline figures of CON 41%, LAB 41%, LDEM 8%. It’s the lowest Lib Dem score YouGov have ever shown, and as far as I can tell the lowest Liberal Democrat score any pollster has shown since September 1990, over 20 years ago.

I’ll add my normal caveats about not getting too excited about a single poll, new extreme highs and lows for parties do tend to be the outliers, but nevertheless, the fact that we’ve got our first 8% for the Lib Dems suggests that their support is still on a downwards trend. It is probably no co-incidence that this comes after several days of the Liberal Democrats internal ructions over tuition fees have been all over the political headlines.

http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/blog/archives/2903

400 PEOPLE MARCH IN COVENTRY AGAINST THE CUTS IN IMPRESSIVE SHOW OF STRENGTH!

Rugby residents joined the impressive 400 strong march in Coventry on Saturday - the demonstration supported by many local trade unions and students leading the fight against Clegg's Lib Democrats sell out over student Tuition Fees and their support for the abolishment of the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) laid the basis for the first of many protests to come.
Youth workers in UNITE also joined the protest in large number from Warwickshire (where the Youth Service will cease under Tory plans) and Coventry where Labour intend to make large cuts. The rally agreed to support both set of workers in their struggle.

 

Please visit the Coventry Against the Cuts website for further reports about the protest and more pictures.- http://coventryagainstthecuts.blogspot.com/

COALITION OF RESISTANCE CONFERENCE RESOUNDING SUCCESS SAYS RUGBY'S DELEGATE

Roy Sandison attended the COR conference as a delegate on behalf of the Rugby Against The Cuts and pronounces the conference “a resounding success”

Roy says ““I was really pleased to represent my town at this conference. This inspiring conference that attracted 1300 people on a cold wintery day from around the country showed the determination of campaigners from local anti cuts groups as well as trade unionists – both local and national and sent a clear and determined message to the CONDEM government – cut our services and jobs to pay for the bankers at your peril.”

Fuller report below and video and pictures on COR website - http://www.coalitionofresistance.org.uk/

Coalition of Resistance Founding Conference

The Coalition of Resistance’s Founding Conference on Saturday 27 November saw the birth of a mass anti-cuts movement in Britain. Some 1300 people attended. Every plenary and workshop was packed, with people sitting on floors around the speakers or standing at the back or in the aisles.

The atmosphere was electric. Unity, anger, and resolve were key notes. Discussion raged about the implications of the cuts, how we organise to resist, and what sort of world we are fighting for.

The spirit of the student revolt pervaded the conference. The students, with their dynamism, spontaneity, and militancy, have shown us all that resistance is possible. The mood in the conference reflected the revolt on the streets and in the occupations.

The range of platform speakers displayed the breadth of the Coalition. The Labour Left was represented by Tony Benn, John McDonnell, and Jeremy Corbyn. For the Greens,Caroline Lucas sent a video message and Jean Lambert spoke from the platform. Headline trade-union speakers included Bob Crow (RMT), Len McCluskey (Unite), andMark Serwotka (PCS). Then there was entertainer Billy Bragg, film-maker Ken Loach, black activist Lee Jasper, pensions campaigner Dot Gibson, radical student leaderClare Solomon, Andrew Murray from STW, Kate Hudson from CND, Chris Bamberyfrom Right to Work and many more. Videos of all the speakers are being added to the site as they become available.

Dozens of others also spoke, either from platforms or in vibrant workshop discussions. In the workshop on organising against the cuts locally, nearly 35 speakers from anti-cuts groups around the country contributed. The feedback from participants, on the day and since, has been overwhelmingly positive, with activists returning to their campuses, workplaces, and localities fired up for the fight to come.

In the final plenary, Tony Benn was elected Honorary President of the Coalition of Resistance, and 122  people volunteered to serve on the National Council. The Council will meet at least four times a year, and at its first meeting it will elect a Steering Committee to administer the Coalition on a week-by-week basis.

The first meeting of the National Council will be on Saturday 15th January. Venue details and amendments to the Conference declaration will be sent out next week and a full list of National Council members posted on the website. Conference agreed that at least 50 per cent of the National Council would be women.

What next for the Coalition of Resistance?

• Demonstrate on 9 December

  Parliament votes on the tuition fee rises on Thursday 9 December. CoR is supporting the call for walkouts and a mass demonstration to Kettle the Con-Dems in Parliament. Assemble: 12 noon, University of London Union.
  Download poster…

• Build Student Assemblies

  The ULU-based London Student Assembly, with weekly meetings of a hundred-plus students from colleges across London, has become the democratic expression of the student revolt in the capital. This is a brilliant model. We need Student Assemblies in every major town, and a National Student Assembly early in the New Year.

• Occupy against the cuts

  Students are occupying 32 colleges against the cuts. CoR is supporting the wave of student occupations, and encouraging local anti-cuts groups to stage street protests and occupations of town halls when councils meet to impose cuts. The Con-Dems have no democratic mandate for the cuts. The direct democracy of direct action is a moral right.

• Build CoR groups

  Where anti-cuts groups already exist, get them to affiliate to CoR. Where they do not exist, set them up. And we need individual membership to raise money or we cannot function. See the Pay Pal button below or visit the Coalition of Resistance site.

• Prepare for February Week of Action

  CoR is calling for a week of meetings, protests, and direct action that will unite students, workers, and campaigners in localities across Britain. More details to follow – please check the site.

• Prepare for 26 March TUC Demonstration

  The aim should be to make this one of the biggest demonstrations ever seen, and the launch-pad for moving the resistance onto a new level.

COVENTRY AGAINST THE CUTS SAYS: DON'T LET COVENTRY BE TURNED INTO A GHOST TOWN AGAIN!

ANIT CUTS GROUP AND UNITE TRADE UNION SAYS NO TO YOUTH SERVICE CUTS IN WARWICKSHIRE!

Rugby Advertiser 18th November 2010

Rugby Observer 18th November 2010

FULL PRESS RELEASE BELOW

ANGER AT PLANS TO DESTROY WARWICKSHIRE’S YOUTH SERVICE

Rugby Against the Cuts has expressed its anger at proposals by Warwickshire County Council to cut its budget for youth services by £4.6 million, and close the Youth Service completely.  “This is the reality of the Con-Dem Governments spending cuts announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review,” the campaign’s spokesperson Pete McLaren said today.   “To cut the Youth Service, and the parallel Positive about Young People organisation, would effectively deny young people any real, voluntary access to crucial support, and lead to hundreds of redundancies.  Youth clubs and related organisations provide vital services for the community, especially in deprived working class areas.  The County Council should be supporting the young people of Warwickshire and be seeking ways of persuading the Government to find other ways of resolving the country’s debt problems.  We have put forward a number of alternatives, including a 5% tax increase for the wealthiest 10% of the population, nationalizing the banks and financial institutions and using their profits to improve public services, and collecting the £120 billion owed by the wealthy through tax evasion or avoidance, “ he concluded.

The groups’ Trade Union Liaison Officer Roy Sandison was particularly concerned about the effects of these cuts on young people themselves.  “The Youth Service targets its provision towards areas most in need.  Removing the service will have a serious impact on local communities, particularly those in deprived areas”, he claimed.

Geoff Dewhirst (Warwickshire Branch secretary of Unite – Youth Work section) went further.  “Youth clubs, and the activities within them, are the vehicles through which professional youth workers gain the trust and confidence of our more marginalised young people. Their purpose is to help those young people towards constructive and fulfilling engagement with others, their communities and society at large. Withdrawing this support, encouragement and role model can only lead to continued disaffection, at a time when it’s universally recognised that disaffection is the antithesis of cohesive, safer communities.  Increases in youth unemployment mean that state funded youth provision should be expanded, not decimated,” he concluded.

NOTES

• Rugby Against the Cuts was set up by local trade unionists and political activists on September 22^nd.  Officers were elected as above
• Rugby Against the Cuts meets on the second Thursday of every month, 7.30pm, at the Three Horse Shoes, Rugby
• Rugby Against the Cuts can be contacted on 07881 520626, at rugbyagainstthecuts@googlemail.com, or through our web site at http://rugbyagainstthecuts.blogspot.com   

HELP BUILD THE MOVEMENT AGAINST THE CUTS - COME TO COR CONFERENCE!

Rugby Against The Cuts is affiliated to the COR and members will be attending.

Coalition of Resistance Conference

Saturday November 27

Camden Centre

Bidborough St, London WC1H 9AU

10am-5pm

Tickets:

• Unemployed/Student Rate £3
• Standard Rate £5
• Representative £10

Conference Agenda

10:00 – 10:30 REGISTRATION

10:30 – 11:45 OPENING PLENARY 
Mark Serwotka PCS, Andrew Murray, Jean Lambert MEP, Bob Crow RMT,  Christian Mahieux (Solidaires unions, France), Clare Solomon NUS,  Heather Wakefield UNISON, People’s Charter, John McDonnell MP, Lindsey  German CoR.

12:00 – 13:15 ORGANISING AGAINST THE CUTS LOCALLY
Range of speakers from anti-cuts and other organisations from around the country

ANALYSING THE CRISIS
James Meadway, Stathis Kouvelakis, Derek Wall, Hilary Wainwright

MOBILISING THE UNIONS
Alan Whittaker President UCU, Rebecca Allen PCS, George Binette UNISON

WHAT SHOULD POLITICAL REPRESENTATIVES DO?
Liz Davis, Samir Jeraj (Green Party), Billy Bragg, Laurie Penny

YOUTH, STUDENTS AND EDUCATION
Speakers from recent school and student protests, Alex Kenny NUT, Jean-Baptiste Tondu (NPA student , France)

RESPONSES TO CLIMATE CHANGE
Chris Baugh PCS, Jonathan Neale CACC, Peter Robinson

13:15 – 14:00 LUNCH

14:00 – 15:15 DEFENDING THE WELFARE STATE
Colin Leys KONP, Chris Nineham CoR, Dr Jacky Davis, DCH

ALTERNATIVES TO THE CRISIS
Ozlem Onaran, Richard Brenner, John Hilary (War on Want)

STATES OF INEQUALITY
Zita Holbourne, Terry Conway, Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, Katherine Connelly, Linda Burnip

COR: HOW AND WHY
Paul Mackney, Andrew Burgin, Lindsey German

DEFENDING BENEFITS AND PENSIONS
George Thompson PCS, Colin Hampton (Chesterfield UWC), Pip Tindall (BBC), Pensioners’ Convention

15:30 – 17:00 VOTING, ELECTIONS AND CLOSING PLENARY
Dot Gibson (Pensioners Convention), Lee Jasper (BARAC), Jeremy Dear  (NUJ), Jeremy Corbyn MP, John Rees (CoR), Kate Hudson (CND), Chris  Bambery (RTW), Lowkey, Tony Benn. Chairing by Paul Mackney and Romayne  Phoenix

There will be elections for a National Steering Committee – nominations  will be taken at the conference from individuals,organisations and  anti-cuts groups that support Tony Benn’s statement. There will a vote  on a campaigning plan for the forthcoming period. The plan of action  will be amendable at the conference and will include suggestions from  the sessions. This is a founding conference and we are proposing that  the incoming steering committee prepare a resolution based conference to  take place within 9 months.

Students Protest Against Education Cuts

MORE THAN 50,000 PROTEST AGAINST EDUCATION CUTS

Claire Laker-Mansfield, Socialist Students National Organiser

Yesterday, Wednesday November 10th, more than 50,000 students and education workers marched through the streets of London to protest at the tripling of university fees and at huge cuts to the funding of both higher and further education.

On the demonstration, the anger was palpable. Thousands upon thousands shouted chants of 'no ifs, no buts, no education cuts' and 'when they say cut back we say fight back'. The day was a testament to the strength of workers and youth when organised to take united action, and echoed the mass demonstrations seen in France in recent weeks and months.
The masses assembled on the streets yesterday will have shaken the government, who naively believed that the days of mass student demonstrations were over. It showed that the coalition will not be able to simply get away with these cuts- that young people and workers will fight.
But this demonstration must only be the start of the fightback. We need a mass, sustained campaign organised at every college and campus and linked on a national level.

Socialist Students is calling for a day of walk-outs, protests and demonstrations to take place on November 24th, as the next stage in building the movement. This needs to be built around the country, starting from today. A day of mass protests on the 24th will shake the government to its core. It will show that the demonstration yesterday was only the beginning, and that students and workers are determined to defeat the coalition government and stop education cuts.

NSSN National Anti-Cuts Conference

All anti-cuts campaigns, trade union branches,trade councils and workplace organisations are invited to send delegates and visitors.

www.shopstewards.net

To download/print the flyer for this important conference click here

FIRE FIGHTERS DESERVE YOUR SUPPORT SAYS RUGBY AGAINST THE CUTS

Rugby Against The Cuts have sent the following letter of support to striking fire fighters in London

Brothers and Sisters

Rugby Against The Cuts http://rugbyagainstthecuts.blogspot.com/ are sending you our support in your current struggle to defend the Fire Service in London.

Rugby is in Warwickshire and we have just seen a number of our local fire stations closed using similar arguments to those used in your dispute – modernisation is a buzz word that really means worse and unsafe conditions for not only fire fighters but also the general public.

You will be pleased to know that the local FBU is part of our campaign and we are proud to have such dedicated workers involved.

Good luck and best wishes

Roy Sandison Joint Trade Union Liaison Officer on behalf of Rugby Against The Cuts.  

FBU LEAFLET FOR MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC

ANTI-CUTS ACTIVISTS SHUTDOWN VODAFONE FLAGSHIP STORE IN DISGUST AT £6BN TAX EVASION

65 activists have today stopped trading at Vodafone’s largest retail store on Oxford Street, London, by blockading the doorway in disgust at the HMRC’s deal with Vodafone that have allowed them to walk away from paying a tax bill thought to be worth £6bn to the public purse.

The action started at 09:30 this morning where activists gathered at The Ritz hotel near Oxford Street following rapid mobilization over the weekend via Twitter, Facebook, blogs and text messaging.

The 65 activists confronted the minor security in front of the shop to gain entry to the shop and proceeded to blockade the entrance with arm tubes and banners before the store had chance to even receive its first customer.

This comes exactly a week after George Osborne’s Comprehensive Spending Review in which he announced that another £7bn will be cut from welfare, producing a total of £18bn of cuts from vital welfare services.

These cuts have been widely condemned by charity groups representing the most vulnerable in society, and the highly respected Institute of Fiscal Studies confirmed on Thursday last week that the coalition’s cuts will indeed hit the poorest in society the hardest.

The issue of tax evasion by corporations and the wealthy was not however even mentioned during Osborne’s Comprehensive Spending Review speech, despite the fact that it is estimated that the deficit to the public purse from tax evasion amounts to at least £12bn each year.

To add salt to the wound, Osborne also announced last week that large corporations in addition will be expected to contribute 4% less in tax to public services across the next four years through a reduction in corporation tax.

Activists on today’s action also note that Andy Halford is both a financial advisor to Vodafone and a corporation tax advisor to the treasury.

Under a banner that read “Pay your taxes - save our welfare state”, Jennifer Kyte said, “The cuts are not fair, we're not all in this together, and there are alternatives. Why not start by collecting - instead of writing off – the tens of billions owed in taxes by wealthy corporations?”

She continued, “The economic downturn was caused by the reckless greed of the private sector, but it is the public sector and those at the bottom that are picking up the bill. Is this their idea of the wonderful Big Society?”

Zeketa Darby said, “We will not pay for their crisis! The public need to join together and hit the streets to take concerted action to fight these cuts”
Taken from Martin Francis Brent Green Party Blog - http://wembleymatters.blogspot.com/

Captain SKA - Liar Liar

Bob Crow on the Anti-Cuts Campaign 23rd October 2010

ANTI CUTS GROUP CONCERNED AT TORY MP’s DEFENCE OF PUBLIC SPENDING CUTS

(In Picture L-R - Paul Sandison, Clive Dunkley, Martin Eversfield, Pete McLaren,
Mark Pawsey MP, Roy Sandison and Sarah Bennett)

PRESS RELEASE                           -

ANTI CUTS GROUP CONCERNED AT TORY MP’s DEFENCE OF PUBLIC SPENDING CUTS

A delegation from Rugby Against the Cuts lobbied Rugby Tory MP Mark Pawsey on Friday (October 22^nd) about the recently announced public spending cuts.  “There was a frank exchange of views during the hour long meeting,” Rugby Against the Cuts spokesperson Pete McLaren said afterwards.  “Although the discussion was generally pleasant and cordial, there was little political agreement as we were expressing the anger being felt by working class people for being made to pay for a crisis they did not cause.  We told him we thought those who caused the economic crisis – bankers and governments - should pay for it, whereas Mark Pawsey clearly believes that public services have to be cut to balance the books.  We particularly expressed our concerns at the loss of one million jobs, and the redundancies that will inevitably follow; the 28% cut to local Council budgets; and the attacks on welfare, especially on housing and incapacity benefits.”

The group’s Trade Union Liaison Officer Roy Sandison was concerned that Mark Pawsey did not seem to understand how seriously the cuts would affect Rugby.  “He could not see that there would be a massive growth in unemployment, with a predicted job loss of one million, and only180,000 jobs created in the private sector last year.  He defended the Government’s insistence on targeting welfare benefits for cuts and raising rents for social housing, although we pointed out the effect this would have on those already in poverty.  He also felt it was correct to get rid of the Educational Maintenance Allowance for 16 – 19 year olds, despite the effects this would have on youngsters from families on low incomes.”

“Although we did not seem to change his views, overall, the lobby was worth organizing,” Pete McLaren concluded.  “Mark Pawsey listened as we outlined our fears, and said he would be happy to meet us again to monitor developments as they occur.  He agreed to take up any cases arising from abuse of Health and Safety legislation, provide a list of the quangos affected by the cuts, and look at the effects proposed cuts on children’s services would have in Warwickshire.  He also said he would find out the effect housing benefit cuts would have in Rugby.  We remain very concerned about the way the Con-Dem Government is cutting without any apparent understanding of the effects of the cuts, but at least our MP was prepared to listen”.

END

NOTES

• Rugby Against the Cuts was set up by local trade unionists and political activists on September 22^nd.  Officers were elected as above
• Rugby Against the Cuts is holding stalls in Rugby town centre to publicise its opposition to the cuts – the next one will be on October 30^th
• Rugby Against the Cuts meets on the second Thursday of every month, 7.30pm, at the Three Horse Shoes, Rugby
• Rugby Against the Cuts can be contacted on 07881 520626, at rugbyagainstthecuts@googlemail.com, or through our web site at http://rugbyagainstthecuts.blogspot.com    

Leicestershire Against the Cuts March and Rally Sat 30th October

Leicestershire Against the Cuts A march and rally with speakers to protest about Tory cuts in services and jobs

March and Rally against cuts and closures

Saturday, October 30, 2010 at 11:00am (set off at 12) 

Victoria Park to Clock Tower

Victoria Park Granville Rd, Leicester LE1 7

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=150904221612925&ref=mf