It is absolutely sickening that Somerset’s Conservative-controlled council is tackling its money problems by axing services for people who are poor and/or vulnerable.

Is that because they are the least likely to complain – or the least able to make a complaint stick?

It is also worth noting the comment of Labour’s Andrew Gwynne: “I said “Northamptonshire is the first, it won’t be the last”… Since then, Tory-run Worcestershire and Now Tory-run Somerset are openly facing major financial problems.

“Cuts have consequences. This is a crisis made in Downing Street.”

They do. It is. And it is a crisis that began eight years ago.

A Tory-controlled local authority has called on ministers to fix a “broken” system of council funding after it emerged its deteriorating finances mean it is at serious risk of going bust.

Somerset county council has been told that large overspends on children’s social services, coupled with reduced government funding and the erosion of its reserves, have left its finances “in a very challenging position”.

A formal peer review says any failure to meet its ambitious financial savings targets for the current year would leave the council at risk of being unable to set a balanced budget within months – in effect leaving it at risk of insolvency.

The county, which has already announced unpopular plans to close two-thirds of its Sure Start children’s centres, more than and make big reductions to its , must now find further cuts.

Source: Tory council at risk of bankruptcy calls for funding system fix | Society | The Guardian

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