Corbynistas launch petition against Lewisham Council cuts plan

A few days ago, BC observed that Lewisham was earning a disproportionately high volume of coverage about Labour Party machinations and that this was evidence of an unhealthy degree of London-centricity within the Corbynista movement.

This, we argued, might put off voters in the rest of the country, who view London with suspicion. For many, London is not the Great Wen, it's the Great Other, and any party that aspires to national government needs to avoid looking like it's run by a bunch of inner London navel-gazers.

For making this argument, BC was labelled a neocon. And anyway, why were we clogging the pages of a humble community blog with stories lifted from a filthy rag like The Telegraph, which was simply stirring up trouble by suggesting that Momentum might seek to undermine elected local Labour politicians? Nothing to see here. Move on.

The Guardian now reports:

A group of Jeremy Corbyn supporters is to call on a local authority to decline to set a budget complying with the Treasury’s spending cuts.

In a move that could be copied in other constituencies, the Lewisham for Corbyn – Momentum group, a part of the mass movement that grew out of Corbyn’s leadership campaign, agreed to protest against its Labour council’s proposals to close libraries and community centres.

The group is also “initiating and collecting signatures on an official petition across Lewisham for a no cuts budget, trying to collect the necessary 8,000 to trigger a debate in the council”. The group wants to mobilise support also for a lobby of Labour’s local mayor, Sir Steve Bullock, and his cabinet.

A spokesman for the Lewisham for Corbyn – Momentum group said the point of the action was to put pressure on councillors to take a stand against the cuts they are being asked to implement. He said he hoped it would lead to a groundswell of support that would embolden radical councillors across the country. He said it was key to winning the argument with Labour, trade unions and the wider community that refusing to carry out cuts was necessary.

For the full article, click here. Thanks to Jenny and Monkeyboy for the link.