The Local Counter Attack. TOWARDS A STRATEGY FOR FIGHTING THE TORY ATTACK ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT

29 pages. ublished in 1980 by the Independent Labour Publications (ILP), the pamphlet emerged as an early left-wing response to the sweeping economic and governance changes introduced by Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative administration. Following the election of the Conservative government in 1979, the central government began aggressively curbing the financial powers of local authorities. This eventually culminated in contentious policies like "rate-capping" via the Rates Act 1984, which stripped local councils of their autonomy to set their own local tax expenditure. Preston's pamphlet was written at the absolute frontline of this shift. It sought to provide the British Labour movement and local councillors with a structured, aggressive, yet realistic strategy to push back against central government cuts and defend municipal democracy. (SL#125/20).