Heavy cuts are to hit local authorities following the CSR and it is the old, lonely and children who will bear the brunt of the cuts. Even so I was still quite shocked to read in todays’ Observer a leaked document which revealed exactly how devastating the consequences of these cuts will be after a document was leaked by an inner city London Council to the Observer. You can read the full report here.
The reality of the cuts planned by unnamed inner city London Council couldn’t be more bleak. Streetlights will be switched off at night, roads will be swept less often, council tenants will be refused repairs on their homes, potholes will not be fixed, swimming and sports centres will see their fees increase and luncheon clubs, play groups for children youth clubs and breakfast clubs will all be cancelled, writes the Guardian.
Heavy cuts to non-essential services such as lunch clubs for the elderly will be hit first, followed by street lighting and an increase in local leisure centre charges. The problem with the cuts is that they will have a devastating effect on the members of our communities who need them the most, and who are the most vulnerable.
And the cuts are (inadvertently) being endorsed by the very people who wouldn’t notice if they were there or not. As politicians some might argue that they are well-meaning, but as Nick Cohen points out in a later article in the paper, the coalition Government made up of the privileged David Cameron, George Osborne and Nick Clegg (to name just three) can not possibly understand how the system mistreat’s the vulnerable, poor and inarticulate. There is no hope if the Government insists on peddling down this path.
Big society? More like the creation of an enormous firework I’d say… You can read Nick Cohen’s article here.
The future of the Post Office is once again a concern for all. The Labour Party had planned to use Post Office’s to help those who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford it to get affordable credit. But the Postal Affairs Minister, Ed Davey, is expected to announce he will scrap the plan and instead make them ‘one stop shops’ for all Government services.
But senior labour sources argue they will be nothing more than glorified internet cafes – rather than somewhere to offer people badly needed access to cheaper loans. Vincent Moss has an exclusive story in today’s Mirror which you can read here.
