On Wednesday 13th November, Notts County Unison held a protest at County Hall against the cuts being proposed at Nottinghamshire County Council.

On Wednesday 13th November, Notts County Unison held a protest at County Hall against the cuts being proposed at Nottinghamshire County Council.

The council reverted to Labour control in May, but this has made little difference to the austerity programme in the county which continues apace.

The protest was held to coincide with the council's policy committee which was considering the budget proposals announced the previous week. These foresee £154 million of cuts over the coming three years with around £37.3 million in the first year (2014/15).758 staff are currently "at risk" with more likely to go.

Despite planning the event to coincide, policy committee had actually already agreed the report before the protest begun, having dealt with the various discussions in around one and a half hours. That's about one minute for every £1.7million.

Around 90 people turned up to the protest, with workers from around the county, as well as community members, local activists and other trade unionists. This isn't an amazing turnout, but it is worth bearing in mind that Unison has been holding protests like this since November 2009 and it is not surprising that people feel powerless in the face of these attacks.

It is possible that the union's attempt to walk the line between a strong anti-cuts position and fully legal "responsibility" resulted in a not entirely inspiring position: calling for a one-year no cuts budget (using reserves etc.) to create breathing space in order to launch a united campaign against the ConDem government.

While an interesting attempt to spin the needs-based budget position, I'm not sure how far this will resonate with many people, particularly when the emphasis occasionally seemed to fall on the one-year budget, rather than the need to confront central government.

It was certainly noteable that the largest cheers of the day were reserved for the last speaker who was also the most radical, condemning councillors as self-serving or money-grabbing, and calling for people to refuse to pay their council tax.

What received less note was the large hole in the budget report. Even in the first year, the 37.7million cuts fall far short of the council's projected £62.9 million defecit. The rest will (presumably) have to be made up from a council tax rise (only likely to raise around £5 million) and by dipping into reserves. Self-evidently, once reserves have been used they will not be their in the future so it isn't unclear how long this strategy can be continued in order to "balance the books".

No doubt the Labour Group would insist that this budget was "realistic", but in reality all it does is kick the can down the road. It does nothing to address the real issue: centrally imposed austerity. If they want to do anything about that, it means picking a fight with central government and that puts councillors' comfortable positions at stake. So don't hold your breath.

Unison had (controversially) invited Labour Group leader Alan Rhodes to speak at the demonstration, supposedly to "explain his position", but Rhodes bottled it.