More than three months ago, the Green Party swept to power in councils across the country. Hackney, Lewisham, Waltham Forest, Norwich, Mid Suffolk and Hastings are all now run by Green-majority administrations. More of the party’s councillors than ever before have control of local services and access to the budgets that come with them. The Green Party has never wielded this much power before.
But securing decent wins in the local elections was only part of the battle. In 2026, local government in England is struggling under the weight of increased demand for services (particularly children’s and adult social care and temporary accommodation) and a difficult funding landscape. While council spending power has recovered somewhat since the austerity of the 2010s, it remains 8.2 per cent lower than in 2010-2011. As a result, these new Green councils are discovering that delivering the upgrades and services promised to their local electorates may not be straightforward. Despite being an anti-austerity party, the Greens are now finding out how difficult maintaining that position will be in the face of deep and lasting council budget cuts.
Discussions over how to prepare for delivery began long-before 7 May. Greens Organise, the influential faction behind Polanski’s election as party leader in September last year, coordinated several discussions ahead of polling day in order to begin to formulate a plan. A pledge signed by 200 councillors and candidates and developed by Greens Organise promised to “oppose austerity” in local government.
The culmination of these plans now that the party is in power is an anti-austerity summit being held by Hackney Council on 9 September. The summit was originally proposed by Greens Organise and is now being led and facilitated by Hackney Council, which is led by Green mayor and close ally of Zack Polanski Zoe Garbett. The summit will convene Green, Labour and Lib Dem council leaders, deputy leaders and cabinet members, as well as trade union representatives to “discuss the deepening crisis resulting from government-led austerity” (the New Statesman understands that councillors from Reform UK and the Conservatives have not been invited). Garbett said the summit will “build a united vision for what we need in our local contexts”.
According to a member of the Greens Organise steering group, one of the proposals likely to be discussed is how councils might band together to force the government’s hand on this issue. This could include councils setting a “no cuts budget”, or a non-balanced budget. Councils have a statutory duty to set an annually balanced budget. If a council is unable to do so, the council must issue a Section 114 notice, after which the government will often intervene, sending in commissioners to oversee the governance and finances of the local authority. Setting a non-balanced budget has been used as a tactic before, notoriously at Liverpool City Council under the leadership of John Hamilton and Derek Hatton, a member of the Militant Tendency on the Labour left. In June 1985, the council adopted a strategy of spending over its budget and demanded that the deficit be made up by Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government. But Greens Organise are obviously planning to be sensitive about how this tactic might be deployed. The source explained that one council setting a “no-cuts budget” alone would be “pointless”. But should more than one local authority do so at the same time, they said, it could “trigger a real political crisis”.
Other solutions will also be discussed. The summit will be convened around three primary goals: launching a national campaign to push the government to increase funding, forming a coherent vision which articulates what the future of local government could look like, and creating a roadmap for its delivery. The Greens Organise source explained: “Taking over a local authority after decades of neoliberalism – if you don’t go in with a really solid plan, or developed politics, or without being really willing to stand up to the national government, then you’re going to do a bad job”. In holding this summit, the Green Party’s new generation of council leaders undoubtedly hope to force a change.
[Further reading: Inside the battle to control Labour]
Content from our partners
Related
Join the debate
Subscribe here to commentThe first thing to go should be the Council Tax, replaced by a 0.48% charge on the Land Value of all land in the council area, and based on sale prices of properties within the area in the last ten years. There is sufficient data to complete this operation within a year. The second thing that needs resolution is the care and benefits system. Most of this should be funded by central government but local authorities should deal with local requirements by charging a Care Tax of 3% on the taxable income of all residents with taxable income over £50,000. The central government should determine what it can govern best and what local government can govern best. There is a need for grown up politics here so the Tories and Reform should not be in the room. Burnham could achieve this in three years if there is no pandemic or national security crisis.