As the FT reports this morning:
Councils in England are calling for the end of austerity, saying the UK government plans to slash their core funding 77 per cent. Between 2015 and 2020, the Revenue Support Grant will have shrunk 77p in the pound, the Local Government Association says.
And that is why fire safety is being compromised.
And social care is under funded.
And essential services are at risk.
It's all a matter of government choice.
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As you may recall I develop new social housing.
The Council planners, building control staff, highways and estates departments I work with are all under-manned either through cuts or the inability to compete for recruitment in the job market for new staff because wages rates are dropping.
It is wanton destruction – pure and simple. ‘Meant to make us look bad in order to justify the preparation for yet more privatised exploitation and rent extraction.
It’s all a matter of government choice.
Or our choice of government.
The government’s insane ideological austerity crusade more and more resembles the mediaeval medical practice of blood-letting, which allegedly relieved pressure of the body’s “humours”, but when practised to excess, killed the patient.
Mediaeval doctors did at least have the defences that a) it sometimes did work and b) they didn’t possess either contrary theory or evidence to call their practice into question.
Neither defence is available to the ideologues currently in charge of the asylum, given that a) their strategy has plainly not only not worked, but been a dismal failure, and b) there is a wealth of theory and evidence to demonstrate the bankruptcy of their failed ideology.
This, then, is not a case of “must try harder”, but of “move over, and let someone else try a different strategy” – that of fully funding local government AND reinstating ALL the cuts to local government made since 2010, given that mist “bread and butter” services are – quite properly – locally delivered under local democratic oversight.
So true Andrew
We need a new definition for austerity.
Can we please place our attention where it matters, that there is a hole in the UK bucket, and reducing the amount of water we add to the punctured vessel is not a smart way to keep it full; quite the opposite.
What we NEED to do is FIX THE HOLES IN THE BUCKET!
A BBC correspondent reported that for each 1% pay rise for emergency service workers would cost £1.5bn. Applying some context, £4bn will be paid to the rail network allowing the payment of dividends to shareholders. Thames Water is awarded a monopoly position, it is allowed to demand above inflation increases year on year. It has achieved little in managing water losses from leaky pipes. It pays little in taxes and banks offshore.
Who works harder to, and cares more about, meeting the legitimate expectations for a public service?