In 1991/2 we in Lambeth did all the things you suggest in your penultimate paragraph – and more – but at the end of the day we still ran out of non-cuts options to ‘balance’ the budget (although one important difference to now was that we’d been fighting cuts for over a decade, and not rolled over in Year 1, so it was hardly surprising we’d run out eventually). Yes, Labour councillors have to try everything and build and support local campaigns (and lead nationally) but without a clear commitment from the Party leadership it’s not surprising they don’t want to give up their cushy pay (no surcharge, substantial salaries instead) to fight.