Is covert deal to cut help for special needs pupils in England part of Tory tax cut plan?
End SEND cuts: the Tory war on kids with special needs has been going on for years – this image is from 2019.
Here’s a shocking admission from the Tory government:
The government has quietly signed a contract targeting 20% cuts to the number of new education plans for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) to bring down costs, the Observer can reveal.
Then junior education minister Claire Coutinho – recently promoted to the cabinet as energy secretary – subsequently told MPs that no targets were in place.
The cuts target has emerged as councils across England grapple with huge financial deficits on Send budgets caused by a combination of rising demand and longstanding underfunding.
So the Tory government cut support for school pupils with special educational needs by a fifth and then lied about doing it.
On the same day we find this out, I see this on my ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) feed:
Rishi Sunak facing Cabinet split over plans to cut benefits in real terms to fund tax cuts
Alex Chalk, justice secretary, tells @TrevorPTweets that 'we must do everything we can for the most disadvantaged'
'I will want to ensure… we are decent, humane and support people'
— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) September 10, 2023
Never mind the talk about benefit cuts; what we get from this is that the Tories are cutting spending in order to cut taxes – for the rich again, most likely, although this could be an election tactic.
They take money from SEND kids because those people and their parents are powerless to stop them; all they can do is hold protests on the streets, and the police have been empowered to put a stop to that.
Meanwhile, rich people have leverage – especially if they give donations to the Conservative Party; they can threaten to withdraw that money. There is a financial incentive for Tories to hand money to them.
So the question for parents of kids with special needs is simple:
Are you happy that your government places your child’s needs as secondary to giving more money to people who are already filthy rich?
Source: Revealed: covert deal to cut help for pupils in England with special needs | UK news | The Guardian
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