Socialists left out

3:48pm Tuesday 2nd January 2001

Councillor John Marshall's protest about Labour's record on funding teachers' pay increases (Times Letters, December 14) is like the proverbial pot calling the kettle black.

When his party controlled Barnet Council their record was no better. This is hardly surprising, as the Conservatives cut back local government finance to a bare minimum so it was just not possible for teachers' pay increases to be fully funded.

Those who voted Labour in the 1997 General Election, myself included, did so in the hope that local authorities would once again receive adequate grants. It turned out that this was not to be. Hence the redundancies and falling morale among teachers. Blair and co even have the gall to blame the situation on teachers. Refusing to identify with such reactionaries, I resigned my Labour Party membership last spring.

Left wingers are hanging onto membership by their fingernails in the hope things will change for the better. Obviously they will not, hence my involvement with the Socialist Alliance. The time has come for socialists in the Labour Party to stand up and be counted. What is left for them? They must follow the lead of those like myself who want real socialists fielded in the next general and local government elections.

Ron Isaacs

Sebright Road, Barnet

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