Our Council hangs in the balance!

For years and years, Aberdeen has been in decline, managed by the SNP, Lib Dems, and pre-viously Labour and the Tories.

Full statement

I’m saying: enough is enough!

The people of Aberdeen deserve better. We deserve functioning local public services, from schools to public safety to disabled & elder care. Millions of pounds have been wasted on vanity projects while our essential services suffer.

I am the only candidate in this election who can promise you that I won’t ever agree to any cuts or tax rises. The major parties (SNP, Lib Dems, Labour, Tories, Reform and the Greens) all have a long history of voting for cuts to public services and increases to Council Tax, either right here in Aberdeen or in Councils across the country. None of them are a true alternative to austerity.

“So what? You’d just be one councillor among many!”

True. But with this by-election, the SNP-Lib Dem administration have lost their majority. If you elect me, next year’s budget will either need my approval or require three of the four parties on the Council to agree (unlikely). So I can guarantee you: if elected, I will stop all cuts and tax hikes!

About me:

I live in this ward. Although I’m not a “local boy,” I’ve lived in Aberdeen for over a decade and now consider it my home.

I have extensive experience fighting for and alongside others: I was a trade union steward and negotiator in UNISON for the past 5 years and am currently Assistant Secretary of Aberdeen Trades Union Council. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I was a key worker and volunteered for the Grampian Coronavirus Assistance Hub.

My working life has been varied, and I have experience working in both manual and office roles, both a “regular 9-5” and unsociable hours shift work, both as an employee and a freelancer/contractor, in the public, private and third sectors, and in fields ranging from childcare to administration. So, odds are I understand your struggles!

If elected, I will:

1. Oppose all cuts and closures to council services, jobs, pay and conditions. Resist the privatisation of services or their transfer to social enterprises or ‘arms-length’ management organisations which are often the first steps to their privatisation.
2. Reject council tax, rent and service charge increases for working-class people to make up for cuts in central funding.
3. Vote for the council to use its reserves and prudential borrowing powers to avoid making cuts in the budget and demand from Holyrood and Westminster the additional funding needed to make up any future shortfall.
4. Refuse to co-operate with any commissioners appointed by the government to attempt to impose cuts on local services.
5. Fight for united working-class struggle against racism, sexism and all forms of oppression, including against refugees, asylum seekers and migrants.
6. Back all workers’ struggles against government policies making ordinary people pay for the crisis.

Promoted by Fred Bayer of 22a Adelphi, Aberdeen, AB11 5BL