One statement in the reporting of the planned £85m cuts in services by the County Council administration sums up what it’s really all about.
Mrs Cutts and her acolytes want to make good on a Conservative manifesto pledge to freeze council tax next year at a cost of £9m.
Kay Cutts: This is jolly good fun. What shall we close next?
The obvious question is why? And the obvious answer is that it’s all about Tory political dogma, encouraged, no doubt, by Mr Cameron and their national Conservative masters who expect to be in power after the general election next year.
In the face of criticism by Ofsted of their child safeguarding role and the widespread condemnation of their plans to almost wipe out services to the disabled and elderly in an effort to balance their budget, you would expect the County Council to look at the other side of the balance sheet – their income – and consider ways in which this could be increased to reduce the impact of any cuts.
Nottinghamshire contains many very affluent people as well as considerable numbers of those who are relatively well-off. The boroughs of Rushcliffe, Gedling and Broxtowe are home to many of our wealthiest residents. And even those not living in the manor houses and barn conversions of Screveton, Car Colston and Willoughby-on-the-Wolds are still likely to be much better off than most city residents.
So, in the face of such a financial crisis, why cling to a promise not to raise Council Tax? Why not make people pay a reasonable amount for decent public services, particularly those who could afford to pay more than they do now?
The truth is inescapable. True to form (despite Mr Cameron’s attempts to convince us that they’ve changed) the Tories will always look after their own. So the people who will suffer most as the County Council swings its axe, are those least able to protest or fight back. The old, sick, disabled and those council staff delivering front line services which Ms Cutts considers are unnecessary and expendable.
My guess though is that she will still be able to afford to keep her horses and is already planning her retirement to a private residential home in the green and pleasant countryside of the Vale of Belvoir.
Perhaps, for all our sakes, she could bring those plans forward and go now…
3 Comments
Odd that you think keeping faith with a specific campaign promise, all of four months ago is “dogma”. Is politics so corrupt that you think everything said in a campaign is just fluff?
NCCLOLs has got it Fred. Tories always promise tax cuts and at some point we have to realise that this will mean public service cuts too.
I don’t think politicians should go back on promises they made to get elected but then neither do I think they should make rash promises to all sorts of special interest groups (such as the Gedling bus plug lobby) in order to get votes.
And, if they subsequently find when they are in power, that things aren’t the way they thought they were, there’s nothing wrong with saying that and looking at a different approach.
Fred, I think what Alan is saying is that the original campaign promise is dogma and personally I think he’s right.