We’ve stripped we are hacking

THOUSANDS of council jobs face the axe and vital services are at risk because of savage budget cuts hitting Britain’s cities.

A Sunday People investigation found local authorities in despair over continued attacks on their spending – with one saying all the flesh has been cut and they are now “down to the bone”.

Large urban centres complain that they are targeted for “politically motivated” Tory cuts, while affluent areas are spared.

BIRMINGHAM fears it is teetering on the brink of disaster.

Council leader Sir Albert Bore said: “Things are hard already and they will become harder. I feel for the people of Birmingham, especially the most vulnerable. They will be hit the hardest.”

The city lost 6,000 jobs when the Rover plant closed in 2005, wrecking the economy. But that nightmare pales in comparison to what is now taking place.

Birmingham’s council workforce stood at 20,000 when David Cameron became Prime Minister in 2010. The figure has been slashed by 6,000 since then and will have fallen to a total of just 7,000 by the end of 2018.

Sir Albert said: “When MG Rover closed, it hit Birmingham hard and it made huge headlines. There was a national outcry.

“But the council has already lost more staff than Rover did – and within three years rs we will have lost double. This is devastating.”

The city has seenen £462million of cutss since 2010 andd faces a £ 117million shortfall this year. Deep cuts are needed to ballance the budget. But there is little left to cut.

Labour’s Sir Albertert said: “We have already stripped the flesh off the bones and we’re hacking away at the bones. I’m angry that we are in this predicament.” Councils could soon offer just those services the law requires, he added.

Birmingham, which this week also saw choc- maker Cadbury announced 200 job cuts – is not alone in its suffering.

In LEEDS, seven care homes, 12 day centres, 14 libraries and two leisure centres have closed since 2010. £248million has been cut from the budget since 2010 and more than 2,000 jobs have gone.

City council leader Keith Wakefield said: “Leeds has been brutally affected by the cuts and there is a lot more to come.

Grim

“The scale and pace of the cuts is hitting nort northern and deprived urban a areas much harder than affluent southern ar areas. Services for v vulnerable people a are under enormous pressure.

“The National A Audit Office, O Office for Budget R Responsibility and In Institute of Fiscal Stud Studies have all warned thisthi austerityt it is unsustainable. “But northern councils keep being asked to cut. Authorities have nowhere left to go now. They must make grim choices they have been avoiding for four years.”

MANCHESTER has seen budget cuts equivalent to £ 300 per resident since the Coalition came to power. City council leader Sir Richard Leese said: “We have lost more than a third of our budget HAZEL GREEVES, a 68-year-old retired teacher from Birmingham, said: “I’m really worried about job losses. “What happened with Rover and more recently Cadbury was awful for Birmingham.

“These cuts could be even worse. The impact is there for all to see. You only need to look at the state of the streets to see how much of a state we’re in.

“There’s litter everywhere and the streets are so much dirtier.

“I worry for the arts as well. The city’s Symphony Hall is a really good thing but it’s losing money and it’s under threat.” and a similar proportion of staff – with further painful cuts to come.

“Councils have taken a far bigger hit than government departments and cuts have consciously hit the most deprived areas.

“More affluent places are spared the pain. We survive through innovation and inventiveness. But without fairer funding we will need miracles.”

In LIVERPOOL every aspect of life in the city is affected by cuts.

The city has lost 58% of Whitehall funding and seen 2,200 jobs go.

Council bosses have axed grants for school uniforms and bus passes.

This year they will look at children’s centres and other community organisations.

Mayor Joe Anderson said: “Big cities such as Liverpool, facing huge challenges with deprivation, have been hit hardest by the cuts.

“We are now down to cutting through the bone of much loved and

The most vulnerable people are being hit the

hardest

PETER MONTGOMERIE, a 57-yearold studio officer at Birmingham University, said: “So far, the cuts haven’t come close to what happened with Rover in 2006.

“People were absolutely devastated. Their pensions were in tatters and there was a real sense that they had been abandoned.

“All the