Isn’t it the ‘Big sell-out’?

Published: 4 March, 2011

• THEY say that in war the first casualty is the truth. And so it is with the current battle over public spending cuts.

Last week, Westminster City Council put out a press release claiming that the council is “maintaining its library service”, despite the fact that entirely the opposite is being planned.

As part of the £60million cuts, the council is proposing the closure of the St James’s Library in Victoria Street to save £357,000. Hidden until the last moment, this cut will hit the many elderly residents living nearby, as well as pupils at nearby schools.

At the same time, the money to buy new books is being cut by £250,000 over the next 4 years – a 40 per cent reduction. 

As the Director of Libraries said: “There will be fewer new books and other resources, significant reduction in multiple copies.  Customers will wait longer to get their choice. Range and quality of stock is a key customer satisfaction driver.” How can this possibly be described as maintaining the library service?

And the Conservatives also claim that they are not cutting support to voluntary groups. Yet, over £1million is being cut from Voluntary Sector grants over the next two years, a cut of 25 per cent. 

Nearly £60,000 is being cut from the financial support given to Information and Advice agencies at a time when vulnerable residents will need more help to cope with debts and increased homelessness. 

This is not the “Big society”, it is the “Big sell-out’.

Finally, the Conservatives claim that they are not closing any Sure Start Children’s Centres. But of the £5.4million of cuts from services to Children and Young People, there are cuts of nearly £1.7million to “early intervention” services and a cut of £200,000 from the Portman Family Centre. The eight Children Centre managers employed by the council have had a letter stating that they are vulnerable to redundancy.

No one voted for this scale and depth of cuts. The Conservatives have no mandate to destroy local services. 

None of these cuts was in the Conservative or Liberal Democrat manifestos. 

Nothing that David Cameron or Nick Clegg said in the “Leaders’ Debates” gave any hint of what was to come. Indeed, every time Cameron and Clegg were challenged by Labour we were accused of “scaremongering”. 

Now voters know who was telling the truth.

CLLR PAUL DIMOLDENBERG
Leader of the Labour Group, Westminster City Council