The Church of England

Bishop of Liverpool attacks Government over spending cuts

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SOME OF Britain’s major cities face ‘atrophy’ and ‘death’ the Bishop of Liverpool, the Rt Rev James Jones, has warned. He was speaking last Friday at a summit he and the Mayor of Liverpool hosted for faith and community leaders from Birmingham, Bristol, Newcastle and Sheffield.

The Bishop asked the government to review and re-examine the criteria upon which the current spending cuts are based. He said that some of the poorest parts of the country were having to sustain cuts that ‘do not feel fair’ and claimed that urban areas with high levels of poverty are having to make proportion­ately deeper cuts than the better off regions of the country.

“The cities represente­d here today know that it is within their boundaries that the severest cuts are being endured with figure of £200-300 being cut per person,” he said. “This compares with parts of the country where the cuts are a third of those being sustained in some of the most challengin­g areas.”

The Bishop suffers from diabetes and he used the illness as a metaphor to explain what he believes to be a problem. “Urban diabetes is where blood pumps around the heart but fails to reach all parts of the body,” he said.

“The challenge we face is to ensure that the wealth that we do have is shared in such a way that it flows around the whole body to every extremity. It in social terms it fails to do so then we will be faced with parts of the body atrophying and dying.”

Interviewe­d on BBC radio on both Saturday 19 January and on the Sunday programme the next day, the Bishop repeated his claims.

“When society goes through difficult stages and experience­s trauma,” he warned, “there is need for a sort of social triage which involves the pastor, the prophet and the politician. Pastors must come alongside and hear the cry, prophets must speak clearly about their diagnosis, and politician­s must prescribe solutions. Society needs all three.”

A Government spokesman said the Bishop was not comparing like with like when he complained about the biggest cuts made to urban areas but he was supported by the Mayor of Liverpool and by council leaders from other cities.

The Mayor of Liverpool, Mr Joe Anderson, said his city was being asked to cut the equivalent of £252 per person while the more affluent area of North Dorset was losing just £2 per person.

“I am not denying the need to deal with government spending which needs to be reduced,” Nick Forbes, leader of Newcastle City Council, told the press. “But at times of national crisis we need to strengthen, not undermine, our commitment to fairness.”

Bishop James plans to lead a delegation of faith leaders to Downing Street to convey their concerns to the Government.

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