Reform council backs down on care home closures after protest

On 17 January, hundreds of people in Preston showed the local Reform council exactly what they thought about its plans to close care homes. And just days later, the far-right party backed down.

Preston protest on 17 January against Reform council's planned closure of care homes: pic.twitter.com/XELm7Oxjr4

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Local campaign groups, along with opposition politicians and trade unions, had been campaigning to stop the Reform attack on Lancashire Care Homes and Day Centres. This included petitions and local meetings, and then the 17 January march.

On 21 January, Reform confirmed the closures would not happen. A formal decision, however, will only come after a full report on the consultation findings in March.

A victory for the UK’s ‘first demo against Reform policy cuts’

The leader of the council’s Progressive Lancashire opposition group, Azhar Ali, insisted:

The anger of residents and their families has forced a massive Reform U turn. We will continue to campaign to secure investment and keep all our care homes open for the future.

The 17 January rally, he said:

forced Reform kicking and screaming to change their mind

Local councillor Michael Lavalette, who is currently running for a role on Your Party’s Central Executive Committee (CEC), stressed that people had:

made it clear that we would stay on the streets until the threat of closure or privatisation was removed.

He added:

This is a victory for the service users and their families, for the workers, for the opposition councillors and for the many people across Lancashire who stood up to Reform’s proposals

Speaking to the Canary, he called the 800-strong march:

the first demo against Reform policy cuts in the country.

And he stressed that:

It was a great start to our unified campaign against Reform cuts.

Reform claim to be different, to be anti-establishment, but we see them! They remind me of that line from The Who song ‘Won’t get fooled again’: “meet the new boss, same as the old boss”.

Featured image via the author