Iain Duncan Smith: the latest MP to pretend council cuts are not his fault

Last Updated: March 2, 2016By

Enfield’s population is rising, pushing up demand for local services and making the financial juggling act of delivering more with fewer resources even harder [Image: David Levene for the Guardian].

Of course the Gentleman Ranker says council cuts aren’t his fault – the deaths of all the benefit claimants under his care aren’t his fault either, in his fevered mind.

If you’re unaware of the extraordinary budgetary challenges faced by local authorities, it must mean that you live on another planet – or you’re Iain Duncan Smith. Despite being firmly ensconced at the heart of an austerity-obsessed government, the secretary of state for work and pensions appears blissfully unaware of the way cuts are implemented by councils in and around his Chingford and Woodford Green constituency. Much like his boss David Cameron, when he expressed horror in a letter to his local council about the level of cuts it was making.Last week, Duncan Smith came in for fierce criticism after he accused Enfield council of failing to adequately manage funding cuts when it faced a backlash to plans to cut youth services. In what Doug Taylor, the leader of Enfield council, describes as an incredibly ill-informed and inappropriate intervention, the minister told the Enfield Independent:

If you look at the successful local authorities, they are the people who have worked out what the vitally important things are that they do, and have managed to get through this process without savaging the things that really matter. My only advice to local council[s] is that if you get the balance right, you should be able to manage this in a way that is not headline news – doing it with better efficiency. It is like any company, you always face the issue of whether what you spend outweighs what you earn. Headline cuts are not the way to go.

That such a senior and high profile member of the cabinet – with no official brief for local government – has ostensibly suggested that councils could avoid gruelling financial situations if only they were better at managing budgets, has understandably angered local politicians.

Source: Iain Duncan Smith: the latest MP to pretend council cuts are not his fault | Public Leaders Network | The Guardian

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8 Comments

  1. che March 2, 2016 at 12:15 pm - Reply

    Why are they moaning ? They voted the piece of filth back in

  2. Mr.Angry March 2, 2016 at 12:15 pm - Reply

    The rat makes my blood boil, I hope I live to see the day this being gets the justice he deserves. No surprise he needs his armed guards around him 24-7.

  3. NMac March 2, 2016 at 12:16 pm - Reply

    No doubt about it, at the moment we are being governed by a bunch of not-very-clever gangsters.

  4. jeffrey davies March 2, 2016 at 12:30 pm - Reply

    aktion t4 rolling along without much of a ado jeff3

  5. jeffrey davies March 2, 2016 at 12:33 pm - Reply

    ps why if its not his fault has he a ring of guns around him hmm jeff3

  6. autismandate March 2, 2016 at 12:42 pm - Reply

    IDS is a Machiavellian dictator in waiting. Mark my words.

  7. mohandeer March 2, 2016 at 2:07 pm - Reply

    Headline spending such as paying £39 for a breakfast is not the way to go either, but IDS notoriously did so. So what was he saying – cut your cloth according to your means, in which case, he must be a man of great means then. Unlike the councils facing huge budget cuts.

  8. Rupert Mitchell (@rupert_rrl) March 2, 2016 at 3:21 pm - Reply

    No one like malingerers and no normal person like an MP, or any other person for that matter, with an unnatural fetish to harm those in need of help and compassion.

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