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Festive Lobby of OCC Cabinet

Anti-cuts campaigners plan to take a festive approach to their lobby of Oxfordshire County Council cabinet meeting today. The lobby, which will take place 2pm at County Hall (New Street, Oxford), will include festive singing and building anti-cuts snowmen. Campaigners will also be bringing a giant Christmas card for council leader Keith Mitchell with their own Christmas message.

They are angry about cuts to local services, including the proposed closure of 20 libraries and 20 youth centres. The lobby has been called by Oxfordshire Anti-Cuts Alliance, a broad umbrella group which brings together a wide range of local trades unions and service user groups, and is expected to include users of libraries and youth centres faced by closure, alongside those affected by other cuts including national cuts to benefits, health and education.

Gawain Little, President of Oxford & District Trades Council and Chair of the Alliance, said, "We wanted to have a fun, family-friendly protest to raise what is a very serious issue. These cuts will affect people across Oxfordshire. Young people in particular are set to bear the brunt with cuts to education and youth services, including closing the majority of youth centres in the county.

"The wholesale closure of libraries is not only a short-sighted attack on culture and education but will also have a direct impact on local communities for whom these services often form a focal point for local activity and community cohesion"

In addition to the lobby outside, young people from youth centres under threat are expected to address the councillors inside the cabinet meeting.

David Cameron Protest to Go Ahead

Protesters said today that a planned demonstration outside David Cameron's office on Friday would go ahead. The protest at 5pm tomorrow, supported by several groups including Oxfordshire Anti-Cuts Alliance, is to draw attention to the proposed closure of 20 youth centres across Oxfordshire.

Oxfordshire County Council has announced plans to cut funding for the centres as part of its wide-ranging programme of public service cuts. Also under threat are 20 libraries and a range of education and other services.

Earlier in the week, it was thought that alleged police intimidation might put a stop to the protest but thee Anti-Cuts Alliance said today that they, alongside a range of other groups, would still be there on Friday to make their point.

"These services are vital for the young people who use them and to even consider cutting their funding is a disgrace," said Gawain Little, President of Oxford & District Trades Council and one of the co-ordinators of the alliance.

"These cuts, alongside the proposal to abolish the Education Maintenance Allowance, raise tuition fees and cut college and university funding, will place the burden of the economic crisis on young people. This is not acceptable."

Festive protest against closure of youth centres

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Taken outside youth and community centres in East Oxford and Cutteslowe January 2011

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Who we are

Oxfordshire Anti Cuts Alliance was set up to unite trade unions, campaign groups and anti cuts campaigns across Oxfordshire to build the strongest possible resistance to the the policies of austerity that are being forced on people as the solution to recession and the crisis in the global banking system.

From our launch in October 2010 the OACA has helped to mobilise thousands of people across Oxfordshire in opposition to cuts and other austerity measures, including privatisation of the NHS, cuts in funding for education including tuition fee rises, compulsory work-for-nothing schemes, and attacks on benefits for the unemployed, sick and disabled. At the same time we have pointed towards solutions - including calling on the government to act against tax evasion and use the £100 billion unpaid tax to be used to fund a welfare state to protect the vulnerable and for the creation of jobs and homes.

Oxfordshire Anti-Cuts Alliance is supported by: Oxford & District Trades Council, Oxfordshire Unison Health, Unite BMW SE625, Unite CYWU, Oxfordshire NUT, Oxfordshire NASUWT, Unison Oxfordshire County, Unison Oxford City, PCS Oxon & Bucks DWP, Oxford NUJ, UCU Oxford & Cherwell Valley College, UCU Ruskin College, Ruskin College Student’s Union, Oxford Keep Our NHS Public, Oxford People’s Charter Campaign, Oxford Save Our Services, Oxford Right to Work, Oxford Coalition of Resistance, Oxford for Peace and Justice, Oxford CND, Oxford Stop the War Coalition, Oxford Campaign Against Climate Change, New Internationalist.