This year on International Women’s Day, Nottingham city Labour Councillor Shuguftah Quddoos referenced the famous Poplar rebellion that took place in East London in 1921 to justify her decision to stand alongside ordinary people and trade unionists in rejecting the destruction of local public services. As she put it: “I would rather break the law than pass on these cuts to our poorest and most vulnerable residents.” (“‘I’d have gone to prison in a heartbeat, I love Nottingham and I want to fight for them’,” Nottingham Post, March 9, 2024)
“My political compass on every decision I make is how does this benefit or how does this harm the people I represent,” she said. And in referring to the Poplar Rebellion which saw Labour Party councillors serve time in prison for refusing to raise taxes, Cllr Quddoos justified her own decision to vote against her own Council’s cuts budget. She explained that when the Poplar councillors went to prison in 1921, “2,000 of their residents marched” in the streets to secure their release, and after succeeding in getting their councillors out of prison, the weight of public opinion was able to force the government to change the law to protect the needs of ordinary people.
In stark contrast to Cllr Quddoos’s brave and extremely political stand, the Labour leader of Nottingham City Council, David Mellen, has spoken to the media so he can explain why he and his city’s 49 other Labour councillors decided they would rather break the poor than break the law.[1] He explained to the Guardian how government-appointed commissioners effectively wrote Nottingham’s hugely damaging cuts budget.
“’We tried to amend the budget but we weren’t given permission,’ said Mellen. ‘Usually, officers and council members work together. We come up with an agreed set of [budget] proposals to be brought forward to consultation. This year that didn’t happen. [The budget] included things we could live with and things we absolutely opposed.’
“…Labour party officials also appear to have exerted influence over councillors behind the scenes. Mellen said the party’s regional office and Keir Starmer’s office indicated that councillors would be thrown out of the party if they opposed the budget, as Labour is trying to project an image of economic responsibility. ‘We were advised that [voting against the budget] wouldn’t be beneficial for continuing membership of the Labour party,’ Mellen said.” (“Councillors warn of ‘threat to local democracy’ in England after budget cuts forced on Nottingham,” Guardian, March 9, 2024)
But as the actions of Councillor Shuguftah Quddoos have now demonstrated, Labour councillors still had a choice. And while it is true that Cllr Quddoos has been ejected from the Labour Party, she was right in saying that: “Local democracy has been completely undermined. I don’t want to be a cog in the wheel.”
Indeed, when the now infamous budget setting meeting took place earlier this week Cllr Quddoos presented a petition from trade union campaigners along with the “Nottingham RESOLVE” petition on behalf of the thousands of people who oppose the proposed budget cuts. In her speech she explained:
“These thousands of people love Nottingham and want us to fight for this city. The names here do not have a vote in this room today, nor do our kids in care, people in temporary accommodation, our vulnerable adults, our social workers and social housing tenants, our charities and volunteers, our artists and protectors of culture. They do not have a vote, but I do. We do.
“It’s true that Nottingham has been pushed to the edge by Tory austerity and the suits in Westminster, that we have lost £950 per household, compared to say Oxfordshire, which has lost just £96 per household. It’s also true that our city is at the centre of a storm of overlapping crises in housing, in social care, the cost of living and the demolition of local democracy. But surely times of crisis require us to be bolder. If we all agree that it is a broken system, what comes of complying with it? Rubber stamping this budget with heavy hearts will do little for the 500 people whose jobs are at risk, many of whom are my friends.” (“Nottingham City Council’s sweeping cuts officially approved,” Nottingham Post, March 4, 2024)
She then ended her speech saying:
“Today we have agency. We can organize, and we can imagine better for our people than unelected commissioners. Every name on this petition, the residents of my ward, and the campaigners here are asking the councillors in this room to truly stand alongside them. I cannot in good conscience vote for these cuts. Please do not ignore the voices in this petition.”
But the latest capitulation of Nottingham’s Labour councillors to the Tories is not the end of the matter. This point was made by trade unionists and community campaigners who marched through Nottingham’s streets in their hundreds on Saturday (March 9), where they stood in solidarity with Cllr Quddoos who also spoke at the demonstration.
Des Conway, who is part of the Save Our Services group which organised the protest said campaigners are “not going away and we’ll fight for our services”.
“Stood feet away from a statue of Nottingham’s famous heroic outlaw, Mr Conway dubbed the government-appointed commissioners, who will cost up to £510,000 a year, ‘Robbing Hoods’. He said: ‘The salaries they’re on are absolutely disgusting. They’ve come to slash and burn our services, jobs, libraries and care homes. It’s beyond belief. We say our campaign doesn’t finish with the cuts being approved, it basically starts here…We’re not going away and we’ll fight for our services.’” (“Marching Nottingham protestors demand end to ‘beyond belief’ city council cuts,” Nottingham Post, March 9, 2024)
ADDITIONAL NOTES
During Nottingham City Council’s budget setting meeting Labour councillors tried to defend their actions by saying they had already tried to put forward amendments to the budget on two occasions. In fact, during the meeting itself they “presented the [Labour] group’s third attempt at amending it.” The Nottingham Post’s (March 4) report on the meeting noted that Labour’s latest “amendment calls for less to be put into the council’s reserves and to use that money to prevent some of the most brutal cuts, including to the council’s welfare rights service, its lunch clubs and community protection services.” But Labour councillors were informed that “after consultation with the council’s finance officer” that their latest amendment, “cannot be voted on. Some councillors shouted ‘shame’ as the decision was announced.” The Nottingham Post article explained:
“The amendment failed given the requirement that all amendments had to be put forward by February 28. Notwithstanding that, the amendment would have failed anyway given the finance officer’s view that it would have ‘cut across’ his professional opinion in terms of how much money needs to be put into reserves.”
Labour Councillor Adele Williams, who had presented the amendment from Labour, then “asked for a written response on how this decision falls within the council’s constitution.” But Cllr Williams like all the other Labour councillors present at the meeting, with the exception of Cllr Quddoos, decided that they would rather vote for a budget that destroyed people’s lives than risk being ejected from the Labour Party.
[1] Eleven of Labour’s 50 councillors sent their apologies and did not attend the budget setting meeting.
Thoughts of a Leicester Socialist 