Greens Organise pledge against austerity

Overflowing bins. Closed sports centres. Libraries run by unpaid volunteers. That’s the reality in towns and cities up and down Britain. Austerity is the cause, introduced by the Conservative-LibDem coalition.

Labour have continued with austerity. Reform have promised austerity on steroids, with something between £40 billion and £150 billion of cuts per year, but they refuse to specify how or where.

The pressure group Greens Organise have launched their pledge to oppose austerity for the local elections.

Four principles

The pledge commits Green councillors to four principles:

1. Hold an emergency summit to make our communities heard to kick-start a mass campaign.
2. Community organisation and mobilisation to push for long-term national solutions.
3. Democratic control of local assets, including a full range of Community Wealth Building approaches.
4. Transparency over spending and responsible use of financial powers. At the moment, council finances can be impenetrable, even to elected councillors.

A false logic

Austerity is a false logic. It takes money out of local economies. 13,649 shops closed for good in 2024, costing 119,405 jobs. 17,349 shops closed in 2025, costing 201,953 jobs. As a result, councils receive less in business rates. High streets become run down.

Infrastructure is effected too. In December 2024, Gateshead Council closed a major road flyover with zero notice. A lack of inspections led to deterioration going unnoticed. It created havoc, closing the Metro tunnels underneath it for weeks. Fifteen months later, it’s still closed with diversions in place.

There are also countless undocumented stories about inadequate healthcare and spiralling mental health crises.

Councils end up spending time and money fixing what could have been prevented.

National solutions

The solutions are national. Any government with a sovereign currency can earn, borrow, tax or create money. The use of monetary policy in conjunction with wealth taxes could reverse austerity. All of us would live in a cleaner, safer, more prosperous country. Sure, a handful of people might have to buy a smaller yacht. But we’d have a healthier, happier, more skilled workforce. We’d also have cheaper energy and infrastructure that works.

Local councils don’t have the same freedom to implement these measures. But it’s not much good throwing your hands up and saying there’s nothing we can do. We’re all sick of politicians blaming the last lot who were in power.

Community Wealth Building

In local government, Community Wealth Building has been proven to work. It’s perhaps best known for making sure anchor institutions – councils, hospitals, etc. – spend their money with local suppliers. Whether this is a local joinery firm or a co-operative of education psychologists, this keeps money from leaking out of local economies.

This needs work – the big outsourcing companies have professional bid writers. Small, local firms often don’t know where to start. The pledge means making it easier for local firms with diverse ownership to compete with the billionaire-owned multinationals. In fact, the Social Value Act allows councils to weight procurement in favour of social impact. Contracts are awarded extra points if they create jobs locally.

It means standing up to the business-as-usual approach of doing quick and easy deals with developers. As Regional Mayor, I stopped £3.5 million of public money subsidising luxury apartments and a hotel right next to St James’ Park. Newcastle’s Labour council had signed it off, but I refused to put any money into a project that had no affordable housing.

Rebalancing the economy

Care homes are perhaps the single biggest source of wealth extraction from our councils. Care workers are paid a pittance and around 30% of staff leave every year. Yet companies are structured so very rich people make profits by running them into the ground. Councils are left to clean up the mess. We need a National Care Service. In the meantime, we should restructure these deals.

Community energy companies are working across the UK. Community housing trusts can convert old town halls into flats that are collectively owned by all residents. They pay their rent into their joint cooperative, preventing landlordism and property speculation.

As Mayor, I set up venture capital deals where the Combined Authority financially supported start-ups in return for equity stakes. It made millions of pounds for the Combined Authority. Every £1 invested returned more than £3 to in payroll taxes alone. I’d like to see more community bonds and regional finance institutions.

Rebalancing the economy, reversing austerity, ending rip-off Britain. Whatever you call it, there is no lever in No. 10 that you can switch from ‘capitalism’ to ‘socialism’. We need a cohort of leaders at every level with the skills and motivation to run the economy in the interests of the people who do the work.

You can read the full text of the Pledge to Oppose Austerity in Local Government here.

Featured image via the Canary