In his latest Post column, STUC's Tom Morrison shares his thoughts on the fight against local and national government cuts...


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Last week, seven welfare rights staff left West Dunbartonshire Council due to budget cuts.

They are just some of the staff who are leaving the council in these circumstances.

This team, which has brought in just under £58million to the community in terms of increased benefits and debt management, has been decimated.

Those seeking benefits advice will find life more difficult, with funding cuts made to the Citizen Advice Bureau and the Clydebank Asbestos Group on top of the closure of the Independent Resource Centre in Clydebank last year.

Some will say it’s all Westminster’s fault for underfunding the Scottish Government – and, of course, we do have a vicious Tory anti-working class government installed there which needs the sack.

However, the SNP-led Scottish Government continue to manage decline with little in the way of fightback.

Indeed, they posted a £2billion underspend last year, handing it back to the UK Government.

In West Dunbartonshire, the right-wing Labour administration pass on the cuts with talk of “tough decisions” – the same nonsense we got from the previous SNP administration.

The fightback has been left to the trade unions and the local community themselves.

Over the past few weeks, we lobbied the Scottish Parliament and several left-wing MSPs came out to meet us.

This was followed a couple of weeks later by a rally outside the council's headquarters, in Church Street, Dumbarton.

No local politician bothered to join us at the rally but at least Katy Clark MSP did send her apologies.

The group building opposition locally is growing by the week, with workers and members of the community who have never been involved in campaigning before getting organised.

Further activities being planned and carried out include an online and physical petition with a social media campaign on various outlets.

We will also be street leafleting and hosting pop-up events.

There will also be a local showing of the film 'Oh Jeremy Corbyn: the Big Lie,' which the establishment don’t want you to see, as evidenced through efforts to close down similar events throughout Britain.

The showing will be followed by a question-and-answer session.

We are getting support from outside the boundaries of West Dunbartonshire as working class communities across the country are suffering from the same experience.

They also see the destruction of public services and tame elected representatives failing to protect their constituents.

People are standing up and saying 'enough is enough.'