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The Parents Against Cuts campaign confronts Newcastle’s Labour Council Leader Nick Forbes
On Friday 12 December Parents Against Cuts and supporters of Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! (FRFI) in Newcastle confronted Labour Council Leader Nick Forbes as he spoke at a ticket-only event organised by The Northern Correspondent magazine. Taking the meeting entirely by surprise, the campaign arrived, banners-in-hand, took to the stage and proceeded to question the Council Leader on the proposed cuts to Sure Start and family services.
For more information about the cuts to Sure Start in Newcastle and the Parents Against Cuts campaign click here.
In the face of local resistance, Newcastle City Council has purposefully delayed releasing information about where exactly the cuts to Sure Start will fall – including which centres they will close. Moreover, Forbes has repeatedly shirked his responsibility to engage with his constituents. Having already cut his city centre surgeries, when Parents Against Cuts and FRFI supporters attempted to challenge Forbes at his ward surgery in October, he wasn’t even there; having taken the opportunity to visit Cumbria instead (for our photo-report of that event click here).
The campaign needed answers.
Forbes again declined to give any. Instead, having been pushed on when the information would be made public, he eventually stated that the council would release the details sometime the following week, with a new ‘consultation’ process. This is not good enough. If the council’s intention is to organise a consultation event about cuts to children’s services in the week before Christmas, this is hardly likely to be accessible to many of those who will be directly affected by these cuts – namely, working class families with young children. Forbes is attempting to avoid criticism. We must keep up the pressure.
The Parents Against Cuts campaign will continue to resist the council’s cuts and has organised a ‘No Room Inn the Budget’ Christmas-themed protest for Saturday 20 December, assembling 11am at the Centre for Life (see below for details). Join us!
Newcastle Labour Council – no more crocodile tears!
We demand early-years provision for all!
No cuts to Sure Start – No cuts at all!
For more information about Parents Against Cuts go to the Facebook page: click here.
Local media coverage of the protest:
For The Northern Correspondent article click here.
SATURDAY 20 December – assembling 11am @ Centre for Life (Times Square, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE1 4EP)
‘No Room Inn the Budget’ Christmas-themed protest
Organised by Parents Against Cuts
Facebook event: ‘No Room Inn the Budget’ Christmas-themed protest
For more details on this and other upcoming North East events click here.
For reports of other North East eventsclick here.
