The UK’s local elections are symbolically important. For pundits, they demonstrate political momentum. For insurgent parties, they allow voters to get into the habit of voting for them and demonstrate electoral credibility. Convincing a left-leaning voter that, say, the Green Party should win is pretty easy; convincing them that it can is harder.
But what should the left actually do when it does win power in local government? Since 2010, its primary job has been administering austerity. Councils have been given more responsibility (for instance, over public health) while losing, on average, more than half of their central government funding. In most big cities, nominally progressive local politicians have been the face of cuts to libraries, children’s centres, jobs and social care.
Until now, Labour and Green councils have justified these strategies as a way to bide their time until a Labour government can turn the money back on. Now, ten months after Keir Starmer’s Labour Party entered office, it is clear that no such money is coming. The Birmingham bin strikes are totemic because they mark the beginning of a new crisis in local government, in which austerity seems permanent.
