Recently, we’ve seen the way the world views its governments and the way they operate change irreversibly thanks to Wikileaks and their continuing revelations however, as good as the work they do is, it seems to detract from the main issues we should confront. Rather than conform to the ideology that anarchic acts can ‘FREE JULIAN ASSANGE’ or indeed change the way the world works, I feel quite genuinely that this is all distracting people from what is important. Global news coverage and legitimate public anger is being directed towards this and all the while what little rug is left is being pulled from beneath those who need insulating the most.
The soon to be reviled (I presume) Mr. Eric Pickles, the Communities and Local government secretary since the general election revealed on the 13th of December the biggest cuts to local councils in a very long time. Fortunately for most he politely capped this year’s reductions at a peak of 8.9%. So we’re clear, this means that councils the breadth of England will have their annual budget cut by no less than 0% and no more than 8.9%. Phew! I think we can safely say that for now, we’ve dodged a bullet there yeah? Consider this. Of the 353 councils in England, there are 36 facing the full cut of 8.9%. 6 or so face budget cuts of less than 1% and one or two will see their coffers boosted by a nominal amount, usually around 0.25%. It would seem, if you read it like this that luckily, fairness is in abundance and after careful consideration Mr. Pickles has indeed done what he needs to do, proportionally. Especially if you consider the below quote, made at the time of his announcement;
"By adopting an intelligent and fair approach to the way funding is allocated we have been able to ensure those parts of the country that are most reliant on central funding continue to get the lion's share of the taxpayers' money that is available. Funding fairness underpins this settlement."
Before I go into this further, I’d like to give a little (perhaps forgotten) background into the situation in my home town, Doncaster. Without going into too much detail, as any Doncastrian will tell you, we’ve had a rough year to say the least. We struggle with an ineffective Mayor, a council which bickers so much that little gets done, National press coverage concerning failing child and social care, inadequate services and more bust than boom of late. An Audit Commission report, said to be the most damning on any local authority for 30 years, revealed that provision for vulnerable groups and housing services were poor to say the least and that Doncaster “lagged well behind the national average on economic performance”.
Things got so bad here that in June of this year Mr. Pickles himself sent in a non-executive Intervention and Recovery board to challenge and monitor progress before reporting back to the secretary of state on their findings. I think it’s safe to say that Mr. Pickles was well aware of the situation here. If you’re left in any doubt as to this, here is another quote from the man himself;
"After 15 years of failure Doncaster people need to be properly served by their council. The dysfunctional politics, poor services and ineffective leadership, identified by the Audit Commission, all must be addressed. "We are taking these actions to ensure that a well-run Doncaster council starts to prioritise the local people it's accountable to by creating the better, more efficient local services they're entitled to."
So you’ll understand if I’m at a loss for words to explain why exactly our town’s council has been hit with budget cuts of no less than the full 8.9% along with local councils in places like Rochdale, Liverpool, South Tyneside and many London boroughs. Some of the poorest in the U.K, I might add. Worse still, think of affluent areas like Windsor and Maidenhead, Buckinghamshire and West Sussex receiving paltry cuts to their budgets of less than 1% and it really is exasperating.
I can’t explain it. It actually makes me sad. The only possible conclusion I can come to is that, as aware as the Government is of the situation in the poorest communities in England, they must assume that it’s too late for them. It’s too late for them so funding may as well be channeled into thriving areas in which the richest live in order to heighten their apparent success. All the talk of a migration of the less well off from these affluent regions with their sterling services to towns and cities which are struggling as it is, appears to be more than mere talk, it’s slowly becoming an apparent aim of the government to create mass slums which they can forget about. At least they’re prepared to eat fruit which we’ve picked for them.
Proportionate cuts. We’re all in this together. The Big Society. Bollocks.
Posts
