Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 106 total)
  • Government cuts to local authority budgets
  • Philby
    Full Member

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-30537288

    Seems like the Labour voting areas have been worst hit – more misery for those areas suffering from unemployment, deprivation and poor health 👿

    project
    Free Member

    Seems as if the tories are deliberately trying to loose the next election, they dont really stand a chance do they.

    legend
    Free Member

    Probably think it’s a sure-thing when they look at the opposition

    Junkyard
    Free Member

    It’s easier for MP’s to cut things by forcing local councillors to make the cuts rather than make them in parliament.

    5thElefant
    Free Member

    1.8%? That’s the biscuit budget gone then. 25% would be a better start.

    Edit: they cut bin collection by 50%. That should be the target.

    eddie11
    Free Member

    25% !!

    Haha I know! it’s funny when the poor and vulnerable are hit hardest! Lets have more of it!

    anagallis_arvensis
    Full Member

    I heard on the radio this am that since cuts to elderly care budgets ambulance trips to a&e by old people had shot up. False economy.

    cyclomonkey
    Free Member

    Good job theres a statesman like strong opposition leader

    Many commentators and councillors are saying the full force of the initial cuts have yet to be felt. Still at least the national debt is going down…… Oh wait

    oldmanmtb
    Free Member

    Battering strong labour areas makes tactical sense for the Tory party as they are unlikely to ever win a seat and supported by the current crop of TV documentaries (benefits street, skint etc) which are often set in these areas the Tory party will gain support in marginal seats due to the disgust and loathing created in the Daily Mail readership – I live in the north of england (just)and my local council Richmondshire are just quietly going about cutting services and not making a fuss after all wouldn’t want to upset William Hague would they, the reality is that most people who vote Tory don’t really suffer from the cuts, if you want a prediction I think the Tories will win the next election easily – cheap petrol, diesal, Oil keeps the Tory faithful happy, low interest rates and no one gives a s**t about how much money any government borrows – no one can see the difference between the two main parties including me and they all seem to take their political guidance from UKIP – I would like to think we deserve better than this but you know what we probably don’t.

    TheFlyingOx
    Full Member

    Still at least the national debt is going down…… Oh wait

    So I’m surmising that you don’t really understand the link between debt and deficit. I’m guessing you want to see the debt itself shrinking, but haven’t considered that the cuts required for that to happen would make the current climate of “austerity” look like a socialist free-for-all utopia.
    You have to tackle the deficit first, you can’t just go straight to paying off the debt. Or you could just keep on borrowing and making it exponentially worse.

    What would you be happy with?

    oldmanmtb
    Free Member

    I absolutely understand the fiscal position of this country, my observation is that most people don’t really care – they view it as someone else’s problem – the root of our deficit is lack of tax take from a combination of 23% of the workforce on minimum wage and/or tax credits + most large organisations paying around half (at best) of the true corporation tax bill (incidentally how many business owners on here get accountants to “manage” their tax bills – legally I might add)

    The more zero hours minimum wage jobs we create drives down tax take and benefits spend up – all the political parties understand this (most of them have a degree in economics) No political party is this country is going to rock this boat as the cost to their personal wealth now and in the future is just too great.

    I have no doubt when the Tories get back in they will really get stuck in and chop loads of stuff and poor people will suffer it’s the way of the world – someone said (think it was a Geordie) we dig their coal, build their ships, fight their wars and get discarded when times are hard.

    ninfan
    Free Member

    Just driven past the council offices actually

    Lights still on, glow of VDU screens evident where they weren’t

    whole place floodlit from the outside

    Still, I”m sure they’re just working late…. Either that or austerity hasn’t hit the councils electric bill yet!

    teamhurtmore
    Free Member

    Hmmm, coffee smell nice this morning!

    Why is there any surprise here? Massive cuts in gov spending coming irrespective of who is in power. Local authorities will take the hit when central gov bottles it.

    The real austerity is still to come even if politicians will all lie about it.

    cheekyboy
    Free Member

    Seems as if the tories are deliberately trying to loose the next election, they dont really stand a chance do they.

    Who in their right mind would really want to be in office ?

    MoreCashThanDash
    Full Member

    Tories must wish they’d not won the last one!

    athgray
    Free Member

    Did not fully catch the story, however there was a lady from Shap in tears on the radio today describing how she would be affected by cuts in Cumbria’s budget.

    teamhurtmore
    Free Member

    Latest mori polls has the Tories ahead.

    Ed x 2 have had their central arguments taken away from them and they haven’t got long to create another one.

    chestrockwell
    Full Member

    On the other hand, one of the polls had Labour 5 pts ahead and the Tories below the magic 30%.

    Plenty of my work mates starting to look at what else they can do as we know we’ll be virtually wiped out if the Tories get back in. They’ve as good as said so.

    Junkyard
    Free Member

    Did not fully catch the story, however there was a lady from Shap in tears on the radio today describing how she would be affected by cuts in Cumbria’s budget.

    No buses in the village [ stopped November] and she had no left it for 2 weeks due to this and felt trapped.

    Latest mori polls has the Tories ahead.

    There has been only three in the last three years [ the last two this year and dec 2011] to have the tories ahead. I think you might be cherry picking/overstating with that claim. Its both true and yet not the whole picture. I would be surprised if you were unaware of this.
    https://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/107/Voting-Intention-in-Great-Britain-Recent-Trends.aspx?view=wide

    teamhurtmore
    Free Member

    To repeat:

    Latest mori poll has the Tories ahead

    Very simple, no ifs or buts, just the facts.

    Philby
    Full Member

    Well central government could start by reducing the £8.4 million spend on special advisers.

    Cameron apparently has 26 working for him and even Clegg has 20, including his Director of Communications who is paid £105k. Does anyone analyse these people’s performance because on any objective assessment Clegg’s Director of Communications should be getting his P45 and joining the dole queue. When I read this I thought I was reading something from the Daily Mash, but apparently I’m not:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-30541478

    Tom_W1987
    Free Member

    http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/

    The older Yougov polls have us on a Labour majority right now. As they have done for the majority of the time over the past month.

    I think it’s going to be a very close run election again.

    teamhurtmore
    Free Member

    Indeed very, very close.

    Minority parties to have undue influence?

    anagallis_arvensis
    Full Member

    I think some of the minority support will melt away when push comes to shove. Hard to predict though.

    stumpyjon
    Full Member

    It’s only going tp get worse, our aspirations for the standard of living for those earning the least doesn’t tally with the amount we’re prepared to take from those earning the most. Trouble is simply taking more from wealthier end is not going to create a sustainable long term future, you end up with a lot of unhappy people reliant on the state for their way of life and the wealthy minority squeezed ever harder to pay for it.

    We need to be more subtle with how we manage the way we live, curbs on lending (finally coming in but far too late), minimum wage is good, reset expectations of lifstyle etc. Won’t happen as it rdverses the political trend of many years of telling people they are entitled and have choice over their lives when supported. A luxuary we can’t afford. It’s al fa, ling apart now but the politicians are still being political and claiiming we can still have utopia on a shoestring.

    olddog
    Full Member

    I think some of the minority support will melt away when push comes to shove. Hard to predict though.

    I think this is likely. UKIP are a shambles organizationally and struggle for any policy credibility on anything other than EU. I can see SNP support will fall back a bit too, but Labour will still struggle more than ever before in Scotland. Green party are considered too niche for a general election although they have a broader policy base than just green issues, albeit pretty radical compared with mainstream uk parties

    I still think if Labour had picked Alan Johnson or someone similar as leader- not least as a contrast to Tory “toffs” – the Labour would be well ahead.

    But the point about the Tory cuts as per Autum Statement – they will not hit until well after election. Budgets are set for r 15/16 already. Whether the threat of cuts is enough to swing voters sufficiently is questionable.

    Pigface
    Free Member

    ninfans post above could of come straight off the pages of the Mail 😆 lights left on shocker, wasteful council waste light etc etc

    Truly pitiful post, please explain what point you are trying to convey

    wilburt
    Free Member

    No one is going to vote for Labour whilst they have Miliband and a load of inept career politicians, why would would you? It’s all centre space policies but seen as less likely to do anything about immigration which is the single issue that overrides (rightly or wrongly) all others.

    The Tories will make the right noises but not do anything because business demands a constant flow of cheap labour. They also appear to be quite incompetent even at being Tory **** and amateurish internationally.

    Some will vote UKIP because they’re the only party that clear on immigration but that’ll be disaster for just about every other bit of the countries administration.

    Greens have some radical ideas but are still too sandals and elderflower juice.

    In short there’s not even a least worse option, think I would rather just leave it up to the EU to run the country and get rid of Westminster altogether and give the budget direct to unitary councils.

    binners
    Full Member

    Even for this shower of ****s, what they’re doing is incredibly cynical.

    Notice how Gideon has suddenly developed a very new-found interest in ‘devolving power to the regions’. In reality they’re doing nothing of the sort. What he’s actually doing is devolving blame, for the coming decimation of public services, particularly in areas that wouldn’t elect a Tory Mp in a million years. It wasn’t us guv. Its those useless local (non-tory) politicians you keep electing. They must think we’ve all just fallen out of a ****ing tree!!!

    If you were in any doubt about how politically motivated the cuts are, then this tells you everything you need to know

    They’re feather bedding the rich, while hitting the poorest areas the hardest. As you’d expect. ****s!!! Utter utter ****s!!!

    hooli
    Full Member

    I don’t agree with everything the tories have done but I am behind the idea that we need to reduce the deficit somehow, I think if labour had stayed in we would have been in an even bigger mess trying to spend our way out of a recession.

    To me, they are the best of a (very) bad lot at the moment.

    I have worked for and with several local authorities and I am afraid to say there is so much waste, you would not believe it.

    I am now in the private sector and if I think back to how it was in public, I would say there are 3 times more people than needed in some areas. Purchasing is a mess, they pay far too much for goods, vendors are paid for services that are not delivered or not adequately delivered, far too many managers who all need to agree every single detail on everything which means hours and hours of meetings and projects taking years to complete.

    Some (not all) areas could use a real shake up or possibly doing away with altogether and doing the service regionally rather than each local council re-inventing things themselves.

    just5minutes
    Free Member

    It’s a 1.8% reduction in spending – hardly the end of the world. “Labour” areas are hit harder because they tend to be more deprived and thus have bigger budgets in the first place – so it’s hardly surprising that in cash terms the number is bigger.

    br
    Free Member

    I have worked for and with several local authorities and I am afraid to say there is so much waste, you would not believe it.

    Unfortunately this was also my experience of the NHS after a life-time in the private sector (and, thank god, back there again).

    STATO
    Free Member

    If you were in any doubt about how politically motivated the cuts are, then this tells you everything you need to know

    How are the cuts being calculated. I think it’s a far stretch to assume it’s some bloke going ‘labour, cut loads out thier budget’, there must be a system, and it’s likely related to amount spent on certain services, which I suppose in labour areas might be more prominent?

    edward2000
    Free Member

    The national debt is measured as a proportion of GDP. If GDP grown, the debt relatively shrinks. The defecit is the difference between government spenditure and borrowing. Defecit and debt are not the same thing. I wish people understood this concept more. This is partly why the oil price drop will seriously hurt the economy.

    My local police station emailed me a flyer saying overall crime had reduced by about 15% in 2014. They have done this with cuts to their budget, so whats the problem here? Or am I missing something?

    Labour councillors want to make the public feel hard done by so they can blame the tory government for the hardship. Thus, in my opinion, its no surprise the population living in local authorities where labour are seated feels the pinch first.

    I detest labour and that comical couple Balls and Milliband.

    teamhurtmore
    Free Member

    anagallis_arvensis – Member
    I think some of the minority support will melt away when push comes to shove. Hard to predict though.

    Normally true AA, but this time I think it really is different. The main parties have lost their grip on the electorate and do not know how to deal with the protest parties. I am shocked at how many people I know are being fooled by UKIP (truly depressing but hey, ho that’s democracy for you) but it nearly always a negative decision not a positive one.

    I wish that it was a clear choice between T and L for one simple reason. We need to have a proper and open debate about the state of UK finances. At the moment, both major parties are effectively misleading the electorate and that is at best dishonest. Their arguments are also being distorted by their attempts to counter the threats posed by UKIP, SNP etc. Sad that the two most dishonest minority parties are having a knock on effect everywhere.

    There needs to be complete clarity on

    1. What are the targets for the fiscal balance and level of public debt
    2. What will be the relationship between tax increases and spending cuts to achieve this

    Both parties have work to do to explain this in simple terms. The Tories are slightly better placed but their tax reduction claims simply do not stack up. Labour are playing silly games with budget definitions but will essentially cut the same as the Tories so should not be allowed to claim otherwise.

    I doubt that we will get clear answers to either. Why because the public don’t want to face the truth. They would rather have UKIP’s nonsensical claims that it’s the fault of outsiders or the SNP’s sugar coated fairy tales.

    Either way, local authority budgets will get slashed. It’s just a question about who will be less dishonest about it. Sad state of political affairs. No wonder people even listen to the likes of Russell Brand!!

    Junkyard
    Free Member

    “Labour” areas are hit harder because they tend to be more deprived and thus have bigger budgets in the first place – so it’s hardly surprising that in cash terms the number is bigger.

    You dont seem to understand how percentages work and it is indeed surprising that the areas with the greatest deprivation take the greatest hit – ie it has taken , disproportionally, from the MOST needy rather the the LEAST needy

    Very simple, no ifs or buts, just the facts.

    Just the facts you wanted to present though that cited in isolation to all , that refute your claim,means it was somewhat misleading. I note you failed to deny or engage on the point made. Polls wax and wane but the broad trend is Labour ahead.
    You also need to ignore the other polls showing Labour ahead
    One already cited and you gov as well

    teamhurtmore
    Free Member

    They’re feather bedding the rich, while hitting the poorest areas the hardest. As you’d expect. ****s!!! Utter utter ****s!!!

    Common narrative, but one that doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. Look at who has benefited under the Tory-led coalition and who has lost (without leaping to any causation necessarily), it’s all there in the income inequality stats, and then follow up with how the reductions in local authority spending have impacted others:

    From the Glagow and HW Uni joint study on this:

    substantial savings have been generated by the case study authorities….which do not impact directly on the level and quality of front line services…..the cuts have been concentrated on services which are used by the better off, together with some services used a bit more by the less well-off, while spending has been increasing in some services, particularly, social care, which are more focused on the less well off

    Bloody coalition, eh?!

    Still with 30% cuts coming in real terms, this may all change looking forward. Hold on to your hats!

    chestrockwell
    Full Member

    When I look at what’s coming to my service, what’s happening to others and how the current mob use fear and greed to bring people in to line I wonder who in their right mind would vote Tory.

    I then read threads like this and I understand, which makes me sad.

    Saying that, plenty seem to want to vote UKIP as they’ll fix those naughty immigrants that cause all the problems so nothing should suprise me.

    Trekster
    Full Member

    chestrockwell – Member
    When I look at what’s coming to my service, what’s happening to others and how the current mob use fear and greed to bring people in to line I wonder who in their right mind would vote Tory.

    No idea what you do but MrsT is in the Scottish civil service and we have the occasional discussion around the wasteful practices and excesses of what goes on. I point out to her that what is currently happening is the same as industry has gone through over a fair number if years.
    There is a whole raft of wasteful practices going on that need sorting but too many jobsworths and people protecting their little empires 🙁

    As for “fear & greed” that would seem to be prevalent in many workplaces nowadays, nothing to do with politics(unless you are one of the 55 😉 )

    chestrockwell
    Full Member

    The fear and greed directly stems from what’s said, suggested and done by those in power imo. The fear at the moment comes from years of us being told how f***ed the country is, how you’re lucky to even have a job or house and from those in power saying there’s no other way. The greed from the impression that the only way to get on is as an individual and **** who stands in your way. The notion that anyone below you deserves to be there and probably lies/cheats/steals to suppliment their megre living or even worse, are not from this country! Those above should be praised and be held up as what can be achieved if you work hard and do what has to be done and what you’re told. The brainwashing to think you should blame those most affected by the actions of the Tories whilst aspiring to be the people that actually caused the mess. It makes me puke.

    I’m in the Fire Service btw. Yes, I’m having the pension I signed up to in good faith stolen but compared to the huge cuts coming to the front line (Cameron before the last election ‘there will be no cut to front line services’) the pension debate is small fry. This has nothing to do with turning lights off but everything to do with services that save your life, protect your property, transport your loved ones to hospital and that you’ve taken as a given for years simply not having the ability to proved the service you expect in the future.

    There was fat to be trimmed and it was already being under Labour. The difference is the ideology.

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