Lancashire County Councillor Almas Razakazi spoke with fellow councillor Michael Lavalette about the campaign to save Lancashire’s Care Homes and Day Care Centres from Reform cuts

Readers might like a little background to the care homes and day centre closure proposals. Could you outline what was happening?

At the start of the autumn Reform brought forward a paper that proposed a review of 12 care homes and day centres across the county. It included a ‘timetable for closure’ and the Reform Cabinet member went on television saying closure was seriously under consideration.

They were trying to stick to one of their election promises of ‘no increase in council tax’ and were looking for cuts. I think they thought this was an easy save.

However they misjudged the situation terribly, and very quickly campaigns sprung up to save the centres and homes.

Can you tell us a little about what the campaigns have been like?

There have been three interlinked campaigns.

In the council the opposition groups, led by Progressive Lancashire, have harried the Reform group. The leader of the opposition groups, Azhar Ali, appeared on the North West Politics Show were he mentioned that Reform had brought their ‘DOGE’ group in to the county to look for cuts, but they didn’t tell people DOGE stood For ‘Department of Granny Evictions’. It was a great line and really stuck.

At the same time local campaigns of service users, residents, service user families and local activists sprung up to run local community campaigns. They have been very vocal and very visible putting huge pressure on local Reform councillors.

Finally Unison organisers worked to increase unionisation in the homes and centres. Union implantation before the announcements was about 22%, it’s now up to 55%. Unison recruited on a clear agenda of fighting to save the homes and centres and protecting jobs and working conditions.

How did Reform respond to this?

The simple answer would be ‘arrogantly’! Some of their councillors went to local meetings to ‘tell residents and families’ that this was a difficult decision and all the fault of the previous Tory administration. That went down like a lead balloon! They then extended the consultation time so it wouldn’t be included in immediate budget discussions. Pushing it onto the long-grass didn’t calm people’s fears as they knew Reform were just toying with people.

Finally, they tried to say that this was all the fault of a few ‘lefty’ councillors who were trying to cause problems and who were making people anxious.

Our response was simple: guarantee there will be no closures, no privatisation and no job losses and we will end our campaign. Of course no such guarantees were forthcoming.

Reform have said there will be no closures to the care homes. What has changed their minds?

Just before Christmas the three campaigns (councillors, centre campaigns and Unison) decided to hold a rally in Preston on 17 January. Reform’s line was that no-one would come, everyone trusted them. So on Saturday there was an 800-strong, vibrant march and rally through the streets of Preston demanding ‘No closures, No privatisation and No job losses’.

The demonstration was very working class. There were loads of union banners. We got really good coverage in the local media and regional television stations covered it. The march caused a huge stir. People were very supportive as we marched through the streets and on line people were hugely supportive.

In short Reform panicked! On Sunday (we now know) they had an emergency meeting of their councillors where they expressed their fears over the damage the march and campaign was doing amongst their supporters. They took a decision to change policy and commit to keeping the Homes open. They then had their councillors in to make videos for a concerted social media launch claiming the homes were safe, and it was the ‘lefty’ opposition councillors who had made this up! By Tuesday they were all over social media saying the Homes were safe.

It just shows the power of marching, campaigning and unionising! The three elements coming together created a powerful block.

So what is the outcome?

Let’s take this in sections, if you like.

First, we have Reform on the run! It’s a victory on the care home issue. Now we have to demand that they put their money where their mouth is and invest in the repairs and upgrades these homes need.

Second, they haven’t said anything about the day centres. So our campaign continues – we don’t stop until they are safe as well.

Then there is a third element. Reform councillors, under the huge pressure they came under, started putting messages out saying the homes are safe. Great, a victory for us. But they hadn’t put this through the appropriate  LCC process. So we then had the bizarre situation of council officers saying, ‘Reform haven’t changed position, there is still an on-going consultation process’.

In turn the Reform Cabinet tried to say that the decision had been made, and not made! They then floated privatisation to keep the homes open!

In other words, the campaign has thrown Reform into chaos. The word ‘omnishambles’ probably sums them up best.

Let’s be clear. From our position they have now committed to keeping the care homes – a victory for us. Any back step, or attempt to privatise, will be seen for what it is: two-faced lying by an incompetent administration. Second, we are now focussed on keeping the day centres open and building the pressure to get Reform to collapse on this issue as well. Finally, we are determined to push for investment in the services and a guarantee of no job losses.

There is a bigger lessons for us all. Reform are not ‘unstoppable’. Reform are internally divided and we need to drive wedges into those divisions. Finally, campaigning works, collective action works and bringing local politicians, local campaign groups and unions together creates a formidable force that can drive Reform back into the sewer.