Councillor Cecilia O'Lone represents the Calton ward on Glasgow City Council and she has kindly agreed to write a regular column for the Glasgow Times about local issues affecting her constituents in the East End...

 

I was 17 when Margaret Thatcher and her Tory government came to power, and I watched as she treated the people of Scotland with disdain.

Her political belief and economic policies, rewarded the rich, punished the working class and diminished the capacity and influence of trade unions and their members. Her now infamous interview where she said “who is society? There is no such thing! …. people look to themselves first”.

The people in the communities that I have the privilege to represent proved her wrong. They supported each other through difficult times.

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As I now turn 60, our communities once more have had to come together and support each other. Covid -19 has shown how much people cared for each other during the crisis: from setting up food banks; to delivering care packs to people self-isolating; and a whole host of other interventions.

Our city’s volunteers and third sector organisations are second to none and an absolute credit to our city. That is why they deserve better.  

Covid-19 cannot be used as an excuse for the situation Glasgow is facing, devastating cuts to public services. 

Yes, Covid-19 has caused a public health and subsequent economic crisis, but the real reason is the 14 years of shocking and persistent vicious cuts to Glasgow’s budget, in fact the president of the umbrella organisation of Scottish Councils, Cosla, has branded this year’s budget as “the worst settlement ever”.  

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Let’s be clear: this not a recovery settlement. It is an insult to Glasgow. The reward from the Scottish Government, to all those volunteers, frontline workers and communities who cared for those in need and kept our city safe, is a disgraceful cut in core funding for the services they help to provide.

The reality is that community facilities will remain closed.

Too many libraries will remain closed.

Museums will remain closed.

And who is standing up and saying Glasgow deserves better? Certainly not the current SNP administration. I am sure they were shocked by this settlement, especially with the Local Government elections in May, but they lack the backbone to stand up to Ms Sturgeon and her Green allies and tell them Glasgow needs a fair settlement.

Glasgow deserves better.

As we enter 2022, once again Glasgow will be trusting on the community coming together to keep the city going. The SNP administration and Glasgow Life have already called on community organisations to come forward and take over the running of community facilities, but it is unfair to expect this without the funding to run and properly maintain these facilities.

As third sector organisations cope with the loss of millions of pounds of council support from their budgets, they will see an ever-increasing demand for their services as people turn to them for support as they feel the effects of these cuts. It is unfair, but they will continue to support those in need.

Volunteers will continue to demand that our community facilities and libraries stay open. That they do not get sold off to private organisations but remain assets of the people of Glasgow.

We need to fight to keep our built heritage protected and open again, I am grateful to all of those that give up their time, like the Friends of People's Palace Winter Gardens & Glasgow Green, that continue to care and protect Glasgow’s assets for the future.

In the Thatcher years, society and communities were dismissed as non-existent.  Our current SNP government does recognise society but unfortunately, they see them as a low-cost commodity to deliver a high-level service. They have continually under funded them because they know they will go that extra mile. They know that the third sector will not abandon people in need and that is just simply disgraceful.

Glasgow Labour will continue to demand a fair and proper settlement that provides the services that is needed because Glasgow deserves better.