Somerset Labour

Tory Chancellor Philip Hammond faced strong criticism from Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn for delivering a ‘broken promise budget’  saying that eight years of austerity has ‘damaged our economy’ and ‘delayed the recovery’ and that it  had not ‘undone the damage done by the squeeze on spending”. Here in Somerset Local Labour Leaders joined in the attack calling it a budget for the rich which gives nothing to hard pressed communities.

Sedgemoor Labour Leader Cllr Mick Lerry (Bridgwater Victoria) said “Austerity is not over and the Budget presented by the Chancellor yesterday was more about BREXIT than helping people locally. If Austerity was over then where was the money to reverse the recent cuts by Somerset County Council for services such as GetSet to support your parents and children. For Local Government there will have to be a further wait until the Spending Review in 2019. The increased funding for Universal Credit did not go far enough, there should have also been a suspension of the migration to the new benefit system, to make sure that recipients were not forced into debt. For many local people receiving Universal Benefit, they are already in work and still finding it hard to meet everyday living. The increase in the Living Wage is still not keeping up with the cost of living and should have been moved to £10 per hour, if working people were really going to be released from the benefit system. Phillip Hammond reminded everyone that if there was a no deal BREXIT then there would have to be a further budget early in 2019, which would lead to further Austerity for years to come, while the Britain recovered from the economic shock.” Continue reading “Labour Attacks Sham ‘Austerity is Over’ Budget”

“Nobody comes into politics to make decisions like this” said Tory County Leader Cllr David Fothergill, as he announced massive cutbacks in services and jobs, admitting “but local government’s continuous lobbying for more funding simply hasn’t been heard”. Cllr Fothergill also accepted that despite making £130m of ‘savings’ over the last eight years, the authority had now reached the “very sharp end” of continued austerity. “Local authorities have to deliver a balanced budget, but the funding we receive falls far short of the cost of the services we provide and that has to have an impact. We’ve tried hard to avoid this, looked at every option open to us in terms of financial flexibility, but have been left with no choice. These proposals will be hard to deliver and difficult to stomach for anyone who works for or with this authority. This is the very sharp end of austerity, but the consequences of not taking this action, of not bringing ourselves to financial sustainability, would be even harder on our residents and that has to be avoided.”

Continue reading “130 Jobs could go as Somerset Tories announce massive cuts at County”

Somerset County Council Labour leader Cllr Leigh Redman (Bridgwater South)  has launched a major attack on the years of Tory control as 130 jobs are threatened asking ‘Why are we in this position?’ and ‘How do we get out of this hole?’ The full text of his speech is below.

“What a way for our staff to start a bank holiday weekend! “Following a week of rumours and gossip around the financial position the council finds itself in, as members of staff started to leave work for the bank holiday weekend they all received an email outlining a summary of areas where savings proposals are being developed for consideration by Cabinet on Wednesday, September 12.

“The first thing that hit me when I read the list, was whatever the justification, how wrong these further cuts are, and how the list appeared to impact hardest, those most vulnerable amongst us, the ones that need our help most.

“The outcomes from these short lines are not very clear, it is purely an indicative list that needs to be explained fully before the meeting, where the Tory cabinet will take the decisions. Continue reading “Labour Leader Blames County Tories for Financial Crisis”