Making Cuts - Where the Responsibility Really Lies
Mayor Steve on where the responsibility lies
It has been clear for most of the year that there would be significant reductions in public spending and Lewisham Council has been planning for this since before the general election in May. That planning began by identifying what we then believed was a "worst case" target of £60m over three years. I told officials that in preparing proposals to cut spending they should firstly look at way to make the organisation more efficient and secondly that cuts should target what are known as "back office" services.
Last week I agreed to recommend to a full Council meeting the first package of cuts amounting to £16m over three years.
There has been much talk and not a little shouting about "bringing down the government" and demands that Labour councillors in particular should refuse to make any cuts to services. I am clear that having been elected as mayor I have both legal and moral responsibilities. However much I disagree with what the government are doing I do not deny their right to do so. I believe they are making dreadful errors and I am attempting to make my voice heard not just for effect but also in ways that will actually make a difference.
For example I have had two meetings so far with Ian Duncan-Smith and while he has not been persuaded that his approach to Housing Benefit is fundamentally wrong he has agreed to introduce measures that will ameliorate some of the worst effects of that policy.
The Labour Party is clear that it would also have been forced to reduce public expenditure but we are also clear that we would have made significantly smaller cuts than the Coalition are doing. That Coalition appears to be behaving in exactly the way we would have expected an ideologically driven Tory government to behave. They are going beyond the need to restructure the nation’s finances in the aftermath of the banking crisis and attempting to shrink the state – their approach to schools, benefits, housing and much more betrays their intentions.
But it didn’t have to be like this. If the Liberal Democrats in Parliament had resisted David Cameron’s overtures to gain their support in return for ministerial offices they could have genuinely acted as a brake on the Tory attack on the state. In the aftermath of the election the Conservatives should have been told to form a minority government and bring forward proposals to Parliament. The Liberal Democrats working with Labour and other opposition parties could then have made clear what was acceptable and what wasn’t.
If that had happened Lewisham Council would today be facing a cuts target of less than £60m not one potentially as high as £78m. If that had happened the attack on housing benefits would have been scaled back, as would student fees, as would the assault on the NHS.
The Liberal Democrat Party bear a heavy burden of responsibility for what is happening nationally and locally and no amount of bluster and misinformation from them can alter that fact. The truth about the package of cuts now being considered is that 70% are being achieved by increasing efficiency and 60% will hit the back office not front line services. They do not constitute the final budget however which comes in the New Year. That will include a cut in the number of council directorates and other reductions in management costs. It will also include increased charges for some council services and a further round of cuts unless there is a dramatic change of heart by the Coalition.
I am clear that my highest priority is to try and protect those whose needs are greatest – those in need of care whether through age or other infirmity and those who are at risk, particularly children. I have to ensure that basic services are maintained at an adequate level and the strike a balance between those things which are desirable e but not essential and those without which life for some of our residents will become intolerable.
I want to try and support our young people through the next few years so that their lives are not blighted by crime, violence and unemployment. I want to help our community organisations to do all that is going to be asked of them in the years ahead. They are the bedrock of this borough and we need them now more than ever.
There is no simple answer to how that can be done – we are living longer and that is increasing demand for care services. Lewisham has some wonderful libraries but I cannot see how they can all be maintained in their current form when we have to cut back on such a dramatic scale.
Local government workers will be shouldering a significant burden as this unfolds. Savings of any kind will lead to loss of jobs. I want to avoid compulsory redundancies but this may be impossible to achieve. Those staff have their pay frozen already, while more senior staff have had it frozen for two years and all except the lowest paid face the prospect of no pay rises for the next two years at least.
I have made clear that I will not make decisions on the basis of who shouts the loudest. Those people who will be most effected do not always have the ability to make their voices heard and I have a duty to make sure that their needs are taken fully into account as we make the difficult choices.
Last week I agreed to recommend to a full Council meeting the first package of cuts amounting to £16m over three years.
There has been much talk and not a little shouting about "bringing down the government" and demands that Labour councillors in particular should refuse to make any cuts to services. I am clear that having been elected as mayor I have both legal and moral responsibilities. However much I disagree with what the government are doing I do not deny their right to do so. I believe they are making dreadful errors and I am attempting to make my voice heard not just for effect but also in ways that will actually make a difference.
For example I have had two meetings so far with Ian Duncan-Smith and while he has not been persuaded that his approach to Housing Benefit is fundamentally wrong he has agreed to introduce measures that will ameliorate some of the worst effects of that policy.
The Labour Party is clear that it would also have been forced to reduce public expenditure but we are also clear that we would have made significantly smaller cuts than the Coalition are doing. That Coalition appears to be behaving in exactly the way we would have expected an ideologically driven Tory government to behave. They are going beyond the need to restructure the nation’s finances in the aftermath of the banking crisis and attempting to shrink the state – their approach to schools, benefits, housing and much more betrays their intentions.
But it didn’t have to be like this. If the Liberal Democrats in Parliament had resisted David Cameron’s overtures to gain their support in return for ministerial offices they could have genuinely acted as a brake on the Tory attack on the state. In the aftermath of the election the Conservatives should have been told to form a minority government and bring forward proposals to Parliament. The Liberal Democrats working with Labour and other opposition parties could then have made clear what was acceptable and what wasn’t.
If that had happened Lewisham Council would today be facing a cuts target of less than £60m not one potentially as high as £78m. If that had happened the attack on housing benefits would have been scaled back, as would student fees, as would the assault on the NHS.
The Liberal Democrat Party bear a heavy burden of responsibility for what is happening nationally and locally and no amount of bluster and misinformation from them can alter that fact. The truth about the package of cuts now being considered is that 70% are being achieved by increasing efficiency and 60% will hit the back office not front line services. They do not constitute the final budget however which comes in the New Year. That will include a cut in the number of council directorates and other reductions in management costs. It will also include increased charges for some council services and a further round of cuts unless there is a dramatic change of heart by the Coalition.
I am clear that my highest priority is to try and protect those whose needs are greatest – those in need of care whether through age or other infirmity and those who are at risk, particularly children. I have to ensure that basic services are maintained at an adequate level and the strike a balance between those things which are desirable e but not essential and those without which life for some of our residents will become intolerable.
I want to try and support our young people through the next few years so that their lives are not blighted by crime, violence and unemployment. I want to help our community organisations to do all that is going to be asked of them in the years ahead. They are the bedrock of this borough and we need them now more than ever.
There is no simple answer to how that can be done – we are living longer and that is increasing demand for care services. Lewisham has some wonderful libraries but I cannot see how they can all be maintained in their current form when we have to cut back on such a dramatic scale.
Local government workers will be shouldering a significant burden as this unfolds. Savings of any kind will lead to loss of jobs. I want to avoid compulsory redundancies but this may be impossible to achieve. Those staff have their pay frozen already, while more senior staff have had it frozen for two years and all except the lowest paid face the prospect of no pay rises for the next two years at least.
I have made clear that I will not make decisions on the basis of who shouts the loudest. Those people who will be most effected do not always have the ability to make their voices heard and I have a duty to make sure that their needs are taken fully into account as we make the difficult choices.
