Salford: Labour Mayor Needs To Stop All Cuts

Elected mayor of Salford City Council Paul Dennett has been seen by many as a welcome change. He is a self-described Corbyn supporter.

Dennett verbally opposed austerity, supported Corbyn, and had a friendly, cooperative approach to the trade unions. Because of this, some in the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) - at the prompting of the Socialist Workers’ Party, which was then a constituent member of TUSC - thought that TUSC should not stand an anti-austerity candidate against him last year.

Mass campaign

But Dennett did not committ to use the position to stop all cuts in the council. We argued that unless Dennett was willing to mobilise a mass campaign to demand the money needed for services in Salford from the government, he would inevitably carry out cuts and come into conflict with working class people. Unfortunately, this is what has happened.