‘It’s worse than Thatcher era’
‘UNPRECEDENTED’ CUTS PUT COUNCILS UNDER STRAIN
AUSTERITY imposed by the Government since the financial crisis has been worse than cuts imposed Margaret Thatcher, according to a North East council boss.
Iain Malcolm, leader of South Tyneside Council, claims the borough has lost 44% of its spending power in the last nine years – double the average reduction for English local authorities.
And he says this has seen spending and services cut deeper than during the Conservative regime of the 1980s.
“It’s clear that local government generally cannot sustain the level of service with the unprecedented cutbacks we’ve received from central government,” Coun Malcolm told the council’s overview and scrutiny co-ordinating and call-in committee.
“Austerity seems to have only been focused on local government but no other government department has been required to cut back at the level local government has been required to cut back.”
He added: “It’s worse that anything Mrs Thatcher forced us to make.”
The Conservative Party was in power under Margaret Thatcher from 1979 to 1990 and then John Major until 1997, a period which saw the miners’ strike and decline of other traditional industries across the North East.
After the 1997 General Election, Labour held the keys to Downing Street until the Tories returned to power in 2010, promising spending cuts in an austerity manifesto.
As well as scaling back public services, repeated cuts have also strained council finances to breaking point as they try to fill the gap, with Northamptonshire declaring bankruptcy twice last year and Somerset being warned it was at risk of going bust.
Coun Malcolm claimed the council had earned the public’s goodwill for the way it had dealt with “unprecedented” cuts.
But he also warned there was little indication from the Government that the end of austerity was near.
He said: “Since 2010, we haven’t had a [secretary of state for local government] who is a champion for local government.
“Eric Pickles [secretary of state for local government 2010 to 2015] seemed to take delight in telling the Treasury to cut back on Local Government spending even further.
“And I’m afraid I don’t see an end to it under this Government, I think austerity will continue and councils like South Tyneside will need to be more resilient.”