Not just because of the obvious impact on public sector jobs and the services axed but also because it suggests a government which is determined to out slash the mad Thatch herself when it comes to getting tough with public spending.
How do you even begin to imagine cuts of such a magnitude? Knowing how public expenditure has already been reigned in over the last couple of years it is utter madness to suggest that such high scale change is possible without a huge impact on the economy and on the public good. We are talking about whole scale services being abolished not just a snip here and there. Prepare for whole sale closures of residential care homes, cuts to social care delivered at home and higher charges introduced, black sack collections fortnightly not weekly, Third Sector funding halved if not scrapped, dirtier streets, roads not repaired, Libraries closed, Museums closed Arts projects? forget it! Police numbers slashed, Hospital waiting lists back to where they were 10 years ago. Rail fares up as subsidies are slashed. Anybody who forgot or never knew what it was like to live under a Tory Government won't have long to wait to find out the harsh truth.
Today on Radio 4 it was further announced that Capital budgets as well as Revenue budgets are also to be slashed with public sector new build projects reducing from £49bn down to £21bn A £28bn pound cut to projects already identified as necessary! So what impact will that have on the services and also on a construction industry still reeling from the collapse of the Housing Market? What will it do to NBC's plans for Housing PFI and ensuring a decent Home standard for its tenants?
And equally what impact will have on overall unemployment levels? Public sector jobs it is estimated will fall by 600,000 and any further impact on the private sector order book will add greatly to that number.
Now, and only now the markets are starting to get twitchy, what if he goes too far? what if we have a double dip recession? what if what if the speculators will cry before ensuring exactly the same fall in the stock market that they are warning us all about. The irony of course is that Public Borrowing requirement was £8bn below that which was expected by the Tories when they made their plans for an initial £6bn squeeze on the public purse, meaning that they could have got their saving + £2bn without a single cut instead of carrying on regardless meaning a movement now of £14bn and still the Chancellor wants more!
Well I do see trouble ahead, real trouble, industrial action, rising welfare bills and quite possibly civil unrest, much as it pains me to say it I can't see the British Public just standing by this time and taking it on the chin. And the protests will be mainstream, not just limited to politically motivated farmers, fox hunters and lorry drivers who have surprisingly gone very quiet recently as petrol prices have rocketed under a Conservative/Lib Dem government!
So where do we all stand when the time comes to stand up and be counted? This must be the most difficult of questions for Lib Dem MP's, Cllrs and ordinary party members who are attached completely to the actions of the coalition government as it's their party and their leader who are wielding the axe!Having listened to Tory and Liberal Democrat Cllrs over the last few years complaining that a Labour Government has sold Northamptonshire and Northampton short at budget I look forward to their commentary this time. What exactly will there mantra/excuse be?
No one will buy the lame excuse of national necessity or paying for Labours spending in the past, according to most Lib Dem's the Labour Government wasn't spending enough it seemed! and Lib Dem candidates up and down the country stood on tickets of no rises in VAT and the need to be cautious with any public spending reductions which threaten the economic recovery. What shallow cruel words they now seem, what hypocrisy! And was the price of a vote on the Alternative Vote next May really a price worth paying? Not to the Lib Dem's I have spoken to who think the vote is far too early and the desired outcome far too hard to difficult to achieve at a time when the country will have different voting patterns dependent on local elections.
So we will have a few very interesting weeks and months ahead of ourselves as Lib Dem MP's Cllrs and individual members have to make the toughest of tough choices and decide if they will stay true to their principles and leave the party or continue to sell their souls and reputations to the devil in the guise of further right wing attacks on the public realm the scale of which even Thatcher herself never dared to attempt.
I hope I am wrong on one point though above, no one wants civil unrest, it is always nasty and the public will always suffer as a long term result, but at the minute I can't see an alternative outcome? Not when we have the nasty party back in government this time all wrapped up in the yellow hue of Liberal expedience.
Tony asks the question “What will it do to NBC's plans for Housing PFI and ensuring a decent Home standard for its tenants?” It’s a question that we need to know as this administration keeps spending money on a situation, which is expensive and unclear.
ReplyDeleteNorman ADAMS address to cabinet 30 June 2010
Seems that this PFI is becoming a little like Oliver Twist ‘holding out the bowl and asking for more’
We know via a freedom of information request that up to the 31st of December last year the costs were close to £400,000 ( £389,561)
To night it (PFI) returns with its bowl asking for more .
We know that in the minutes of meetings of the ‘Cabinet Advisory Panel that a £800 a day Interim gives the estimate at 1m
We know that if this all goes pear shaped, then all this cost will fall on to the housing revenue account (HRA), i.e. put simply our rent money.
So we could be paying 1m for nothing, not one new bathroom, not one pane of glass in a window, not one dripping tap fixed.
We are in very uncertain times, this report accepts that at
4.7.1 The Council and the Government PFI unit is awaiting the outcome of the new Government’s saving Plan and whether PFI will be affected.
I would ask that this cabinet defers ANY decision to a later date, until such time as we have some clarity on this matter.
I have personally been written to by Mr Ellis MP who assures me he as written to the housing minister to the same end to get some clarity on the governments position,
Your £800 a day consultants maybe telling you that you should carry on regardless – I ask that you don’t gamble with my rent payments on this very expensive and unclear situation.
To recap:
DEFER ANY DECISION, NOT A PENNY MORE TILL THE SITUATION IS CLEAR
Mr Norman Adams
Council Tenant
Northampton
The Labour group on NBC have the following motion down for the next council meeting, if the best the Labour group can come up with is that a letter be sent to the Deputy Prime Minister?
ReplyDeleteI hope that the public will at some time take to the streets, that working people in work put down there tools, and that this government is forced to take on the bankers and others who got us into this position.
Text of the motion:
(ii) Councillor Mason to propose and Councillor Davies to second:
“This Council expresses its concern at the increase in VAT announced in the budget on June 22nd 2010, which will have a disproportionate impact on the poorest families in Northampton.
The Council recognises the Government’s need to bring down the borrowing deficit and the need to make decisions over tax and spending. The Council notes however that this should be done in as fair a manner as possible, should not have a disproportionate impact on the poor and should not risk economic recovery.
The Council further notes the report produced by the Institute of Fiscal Studies which says that the increase in VAT will impact those on low incomes the hardest and this includes pensioners living on savings.
This Council instructs the Leader of the Borough Council to write to the Deputy Prime Minister asking him to reconsider the VAT increase to 20%.”
The following statement as just been published:
ReplyDeleteNorthampton Amicus/Unite Statement
Northants County Council attack on its employees wages and conditions
The Northampton Amicus/Unite branch is concerned if any worker is forced to accept a reduction in wages or conditions and will do all in its power to help and support those who take steps to resist such moves. It is clear too that there is no equality of sacrifice in these NCC moves which focus reductions on the least well paid and women workers particularly.
The crisis in the economy has not been caused by employees but by greedy bankers and their treatment of the economy as a casino. Banks and shareholders have received hundreds of £billions in subsidies and bail out and we think that workers should refuse to pay for that.
This county council wastes millions on consultants and hundreds of £millions on financial scams like the schools PFI scheme, proving the money is there to pay its employees a decent wage. This union does not believe in levelling down but rather in fighting for decent wages and pensions for all.
Northampton Amicus/Unite will campaign and support all workers, be they public or private sector employees, who take steps to defend their living standards against attacks from prolifligate councils and wealthy employers and we call for united trade union discussion and action to knock back this and any similar moves.
Dave Green Amicus/Unite Chairman
Phil Watts " " Secretary
The trouble is closer to home than one suspects, what with the Liberal Democrat Borough and County Councillor now finding part -time work as a barman at functions over in Delapre.
ReplyDeleteNow we find that 'the Lib Dem Clan' have engineered the removal of the stalwart of the Abbey, Graham Walker and are dead set on getting their grubby hands on 'power in the park'. Where will they stop? How many more situations will they concoct to get their evil way? There's work to do Tony. And do we know how or where this madness called the 'ROSESTOCK FESTIVAL' derived from? 24th, 25th and 26th September - up to 20,000 people per day converging on Far Cotton. Who has allowed this madness to be foist upon the Town in order to make money for a private concern?
There is a lot more to this story. When I contacted the Chronicle and Echo (Nick Spoors) over twelve months ago to inform them that legitimate members of the Trust (of which I was one), who wanted to oust Walker from his position, were not even allowed into meetings let alone vote, I was told it was not newsworthy. This despite the fact that I told them that at one particular meeting the welcoming committee was more like a pub bouncer’s convention and even The Friend’s unpaid volunteers and local councillors were refused admission . I also told them that I had contacted the relevant governing body and they had said this was not permitted. Incidentally, a Chronicle and Echo reporter, who was supposed to attend, did not appear. They still insisted this was not newsworthy, which is blatantly a joke . A case of someone knowing someone perhaps? Work it out for yourself. I fully expect this comment to be removed by the moderator.
ReplyDeleteAnon, removed? why you are entitled to your opinion, even if it differs from mine. Personally I feel the current trustees of FoDA are a bunch of chancers and apologists who have destroyed the charity and done the Councils dirty work for them in turning FoDA into the puppet they want to control. I was all meetings and all members who had been entitled to attend were always let in. At one I even insisted that newly joined members be allowed into the AGM as non voting observers. Cllr who were not members were not entitled to attend, and your right none of the above is newsworthy.
ReplyDeleteThen you have a different recollection of one meeting in particular than everyone else who attended. If "the current trustees of FoDA are a bunch of chancers and apologists", then that is a huge leap forward from what we had two AGM's ago. At long last the charity is finally putting money into its bank account.
ReplyDeleteOnce again published, lacking in credibility or any hold on reality, but all the same, published
ReplyDelete