Parents Against Cuts and FRFI supporters on the steps of Newcastle Civic Centre
On Saturday 13 September parents, toddlers and their supporters took to the streets against 65% cuts to SureStart and other Family Services by Labour-led Newcastle City Council. The ‘Messy March’ was organised by Parents Against Cuts; a campaign which FRFI supporters -together with other parents – have been central to organising.
SureStart was set up by a Labour Government as part of an attempt to shift the responsibility for problems caused by poverty onto the behaviour of parents. But regardless of Labour’s intentions, SureStart has become a valued resource in many working class communities, offering a range of free activities that parents and other carers can take children along to. The proposed cuts come on top of other cuts in recent years to play and youth services, libraries, swimming pools and leisure centres. Following cuts to the play service last year, some centres are only being kept open through SureStart, and these could now face closure or privatisation.
The Messy March started with protest and play at Grey’s Monument in the centre of town. Children took part in hand and feet painting, face-painting, decorating balloons and making shakers for the march. Adults collected petition signatures and comments on large strips of paper. Parents and other supporters spoke on an open microphone about the value of SureStart provision and the injustice of political parties expecting working class children to pay for the economic deficit caused by the capitalist crisis and bank bail-outs.
Messy play and protest in Newcastle city centre
A local parent speaks against the cuts
The proposed cuts follow a series of vicious cuts to services made in recent years by Newcastle’s Labour-led council
The march was timed to coincide with a ‘consultation’ meeting organised by the council at the Civic Centre. Many parents have not been informed about the consultation, even if they regularly use the services under threat. We are now half way through the so-called consultation period and the Family Service Review is not mentioned on the Council’s own website under consultations, and can only be found on the Eventbrite website by searching for ‘Newcastle Family Services Review’ on a search engine. At the start of the march, a police officer arrived to inform the protesters that the consultation meeting had been cancelled, apparently due to ‘problems with room bookings’. Yet when a steward went into the Civic Centre to check, there were plenty of empty meeting rooms available.
The protesters marched to the Civic Centre, singing and chanting all the way up Northumberland Street:
“Row, row, row your boat, gently up the stream,
If you see a councillor, don’t forget to scream:
No cuts to Sure Start, No cuts at all!”
Parents Against Cuts and FRFI supporters prepare to march through Newcastle city centre
At the Civic Centre they were told by the individual on reception an entirely different story: that the consultation had been cancelled because nobody had registered to attend. The person on reception added that even if the consultation was going ahead, the parents and children on the march wouldn’t be allowed to attend. It seems the council are only interested in ‘consulting’ as long as nobody actually comes forward with an opinion! Ten people submitted formal complaints to the council leader’s office, protesting against the sham consultation.
Parents Against Cuts are now building for a protest called by UNISON on the day of the council’s budget vote, and encourage everybody to attend:
WEDNESDAY (1 October) – 4pm @ Newcastle Civic Centre (Ceremonial Way side, next to the park)
Budget Day Protest Against Cuts to SureStart
Organised by UNISON
Please also sign the petition organised by UNISON, which will be presented to the council on 1 October.
To sign the petition online click here.
We demand early-years provision for all!
No cuts to SureStart! No cuts at all!
For more information about Parents Against Cuts go to the Facebook page: click here.
For reports of other North East events clickhere.
For events coming up clickhere.
