Just after the 31 Labour councillors were surcharged and disbarred from office, the local Labour Party stood on a manifesto pledging “more homes and jobs”.
The manifesto was discussed and agreed by a series of working groups, open to all local Labour Party members who produced drafts before they were sent to the Local Government Committee for agreement. This was in stark contrast to the 1990 election manifesto which was imposed on Lambeth by Labour HQ in Walworth road.
Still defiant after the previous Labour council was crushed in the courts, Labour declared; “Labour realises that our policies may be deemed illegal by some. So be it! Since 1979 the Tory Government has had many of its actions declared illegal. by the courts, Locally they tried to shut down tbe Health Authority. When that was declared illegal, they changed the law. Their social security rules for bed and
breakfast were declared illegal, €e they changed the law. They expect us to break laws which demand decent housing and social services in order to fit their spending cuts laws. If we are faced with a choice between Tory demands to cut our services for local people and sack workers, or stand with local people demanding better provision, we will stand with the the people.”
It pledged that local people would be voting for: “keeping the necessary staff to ensure no cuts in services
no redundancies, the continuation of recruitment and no privatisation of council services”, “Resisting hotels and luxury housing on riverside sites at the detriment of the existing community. Defending the rights of local people against property speculators and ensure democratic control of planning” and “democratic control of the police”.
You can download the manifesto below:
Radical Lambeth 