Calderdale joins Kirklees in call to end austerity
CALDERDALE Council’s leader Tim Swift has joined Kirklees counterpart Shabir Pandor in calling for an end to austerity.
Clr Swift has become the latest Labour town hall chief to join a UK-wide campaign to lobby the Government.
He says that budget pressures on councils could lead to more following Northamptonshire into effective bankruptcy.
The pressures faced by top-tier local authorities have been brought into sharp focus through the year by the financially crippled Northamptonshire County Council, which has issued two Section 114 notices – indicating the county has effectively run out of cash to meet its obligations.
That means Northamptonshire is likely to only deliver core statutory services for the “foreseeable future” and is battling a deficit of around £70m this year.
Coun Swift, a member of the Local Government Association (LGA) Labour Group, which represents and supports Labour Groups in England and Wales, said the Breaking Point campaign warns more councils may end up in the same position as Conservativecontrolled Northamptonshire.
The campaign calls for a real end to austerity for local councils, arguing pressures on councils are increasing – last year councils were forced to spend an extra £800m on vital services to protect children, and with an ageing population and growing demand adult social care face a funding gap of £3.5bn, said Clr Swift.
As a result of Government policies, Calderdale Council has been forced to find cuts of over £100m since 2010, Tory cuts meaning councils across the country have lost 60p out of every £1 that the last Labour Government was spending on local government eight years ago, he claimed.
The Breaking Point petition, signed by more than 5,000 Labour councillors, including almost all the party’s councillors in Calderdale, calls on Prime Minister Theresa May and Chancellor Philip Hammond to use the upcoming Budget to cancel a further planned £1.3bn cut to councils, and to provide an immediate cash injection to stop children’s services and adult social care from collapsing.
Coun Swift said: “I am fully behind the Breaking Point campaign. We are joining together with Labour councillors from across the country to send a sharp warning to the Prime Minister and Chancellor that austerity is driving councils to the point of total collapse.
“We are delivering a powerful message to the Prime Minister and Chancellor that councils simply cannot take any more cuts.
“If the Budget doesn’t reverse the further cuts planned to local government for next year then more councils will collapse into bankruptcy, causing devastating effects for children at risk, disabled adults, and vulnerable older people.”