Received from: Unite
Conference notes with deep concern the mounting debt crisis facing local authorities across the UK. This was caused by years of Tory government underfunding but is now being perpetuated by the failure of the Labour government to restore fair and sustainable funding.
Wages are under attack. We are still losing libraries, youth services, community centres, and timely repairs to homes and roads. Social care, children’s services, and public health are not addressing people’s needs. This is austerity by another name.
Councils are being forced to borrow more and more heavily just to meet statutory obligations. Most of this debt is owed to the Westminster government, which charges inflated interest rates above standard gilt rates. As of 2024, local authorities hold £122bn of debt. This number is growing.
To meet these mounting costs and pay for past mistakes bankrupt councils are slashing services and attacking workers through job cuts, below-inflation pay offers, and fire-and-rehire tactics – as seen in the ongoing Birmingham bin workers’ dispute. Workers should not be made to pay the price for the failure of politicians.
Conference believes that workers and communities must not bear the burden of a crisis they did not create. Cuts to services and pay are political choices, not inevitabilities.
We call on the TUC to campaign urgently for:
i. restructuring or cancellation of local government debt to future-proof local authorities
ii. a new, fair, multi-year funding settlements based on need
iii. an end to imposed pay cuts by local authorities
iv. unequivocal support for the Birmingham bin workers
Unite