Fifty Tories line up to defy David Cameron over town hall cuts
Oxfordshire County Hall: David Cameron’s own council was the first to complain about cuts to local government.
Living in rural Wales, This Writer is aware of the cuts’ effect on council services. If this is due to losses of just four per cent, I’m the Pope.
It does support the rural Tories’ point, however. If Powys is suffering on a four per cent cut, then what of rural England.
Sadly, it seems a little late for these MPs to complain about it. Where were they when the cuts were first discussed? Why didn’t they say anything at a more appropriate time?
Did they really think their constituencies would not be affected?
Or did they think they could fool their voters into thinking that the effect would not be as bad as it is?
David Cameron is facing the prospect of a major backbench Tory rebellion over planned cuts to town hall budgets, amid claims that rural areas are being unfairly targeted.
Up to 50 MPs are understood to have signed a letter demanding changes to the Government’s proposed settlement with local government, which was published last month.
Senior backbencher Graham Stuart, the former chairman of the Education Select Committee, has been named by a number of Tory MPs as the “shop steward” leading the “rural resistance” to the cuts.
The letter calling for shire councils to be given more money has been sent to the Communities Secretary, Greg Clarke, before a final deal is laid before the Commons within the next fortnight.
One Conservative MP said: “There are a lot of us who are absolutely furious about this. We accept the need for cuts, but it’s about fairness. How can it be right that rural councils are facing cuts of 33 per cent, but urban areas – where it is cheaper to provide services – are facing a reduction of just 19 per cent? In Wales, it’s just 8 per cent and Scotland 4 per cent.”
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Lets hope this ruffles Osborne’s feathers though I very much doubt it, he appears impervious to criticism as shown over the recent years, bull headed Tory.
This is good news for all as a lot has gone wrong over the last few weeks, I think people are actually starting to wake up to what is being thrust on them.
Accuse me of being a little OTT if you wish, but doesn’t it look like the Tory party are in complete and utter turmoil at the moment ? They can’t exactly say that it is only happening on the Labour side at the moment (although I am sure they’ll try).
Another nail in the coffin….
The Nasty Party doesn’t like it up ’em. Did they think they were going to be immune to their own nasty policies?
I wonder if they would dare to leave the Conservative Party and go Independent?
After all, if they are so outraged with their Party it’s the least they could do to show they mean it.
Or is it because they are frightened of losing their seats when voters may eventually turn on them. Hmmm, I wonder which one.
Despite all this, local councils still waste horrendous amounts on councillors pet projects and service overlaps.
Your previous article on the Rolls Royce was just the tip of the iceberg.
This might be code ‘give me an excuse to rearrange the cuts so that they can be redirected against Labour councils’. A variation of the Tax credit fiasco. It reads that way, but I really that’s not the case, as urban areas have been squeezed to the point where their social cohesion is going to crack some time soon. That will be a terrible tragedy for those involved, the local authorities and urban dwellers in general. Perhaps that’s why, if what the Tory M.P.s report is correct, the cut in spending weighs heaviest on the shire councils.
Austerity is a failed economic policy, for a problem that did present a significant risk to the UK economy and is now tearing huge amounts lost productivity – through lack of investment in tooling-up industry, infrastructure and proper training schemes in sectors which have value-added potential (IT., engineering, and science for example) and lost potential GDP. I think we are about to start paying with even more poverty, pain and lost lives for the ignorance engendered in the populous by Murdock, et.al. and his potential new host, the BBC. To function at optimum level democracies must have reliable sources of information upon which to make electoral decisions; where they do not the nation will be run for a small cliché and as such is bound to fail amongst nations where reaching the full potential of economic output is a prerequisite. Yes, that must include suitable investment in a sustainable economy from an energy and climate perspective.
On another subject I read today at Truerepublica, albeit in lightly evidenced article, that the U.K. (staring with London and then rippling outwards) a house price crash. Now that that definitely would bring the House down.Mind you a relative of mine how works as an estate agent has been saying as much to family members for over six months and that’s going to be a big one.
shaunt