October 29th, 2010 by Mark Rusling

The spending cuts announced by the Conservative-Lib Dem government this week are deeply regressive. Despite the government’s claims, the cuts in public spending will hit the poor 2.5 times harder than they will hit the rich. If you would like more details, email cllr.mark.rusling@walthamforest.gov.uk and I can provide them. Click here for a detailed explanation by the BBC.

The government has made no attempt to assess the impact of the cuts on gender, race and disability inequality. We expect that the decisions made will only serve to widen the existing unfairness.

Local government funding will be reduced by 27%, hammering our ability to provide services on behalf of our residents, particularly those who are most vulnerable. We will have to find at least £65 million savings in the next four years, excluding the £270 million of funding lost because of the withdrawal of Labour’s school rebuilding programme.

Grants to fire authorities are being reduced by 25% and police funding is being reduced by 20% – putting our residents at risk. Education budgets for the over-16s are all being slashed, hampering the ambitions of Walthamstow residents. Rents for social housing are being increased, at the same time as Waltham Forest faces an influx of thousands of people from inner London who have had their Housing Benefit capped at unreasonable levels.

Bus and rail fares are going up, reducing the ability of people from our borough to find work. Free prescriptions for people with long-term conditions, the right to one-to-one nursing for cancer patients, and the one-week target for cancer diagnostics – all introduced by Labour – are all being scrapped. Warm Front – providing free insulation for the poor and elderly – is also going.

All this amounts to a concerted attack on the poorest and most vulnerable members of our community. We do not deny that savings have to be made, but the decisions taken by the Conservatives and Lib Dems this week are not decisions that Labour would have made. We would not have chosen to balance the budget on the backs of those least able to bear that load. The cuts announced this week were not inevitable – the government has chosen to cut in this way. All Conservative and Lib Dem politicians – local and national – must be held to account for their choices.