MP, Labour’s Shadow
Chancellor, has called on to bring forward resources
to help local authorities meet the “financial crisis” many of
them face due to central Government spending cuts.
The Shadow Chancellor cited ’s own local Tory Council
leader David Hodge, who yesterday described the £200 million
spending cuts since 2010 faced by his council as a “financial
crisis”, and called on the chancellor to act not “stand idly by
when Rome burns.”
MP, Labour’s Shadow
Chancellor, speaking after Treasury Questions today
in the House of Commons, said:
“This is a major humiliation for . If the Chancellor cannot
convince one of his closest local political allies to trust his
central economic policy, why should the rest of the
country?
“The fact that the Chancellor’s own local Tory council is calling
on him to act shows not only how divided their party is, but also
how their continued cuts are losing credibility among their
closest allies.
“The Chancellor is doing all he can to play down the importance
of next month’s Spring Statement, to bury his head in the sand,
and avoid taking the real action our economy needs. Labour are
demanding he take this opportunity to address the crisis almost
eight years of austerity has created in our children’s services.
“The next Labour government will end austerity and provide the
proper resources our communities need to build the high wage,
high skill economy for the many, not the few.”
Ends
Notes to editors
-
· Questions
asked today in Treasury Questions by the Shadow Chancellor:
Q1
These Ministerial responses demonstrate absolutely no
understanding of the crisis 8 years of cuts have created in local
government.
Local councils face a funding gap of £5.8 billion by 2020.
And it is the most vulnerable in our society that are suffering.
The number of children taken into care is at its highest level
since 1985.
One in three councillors are warning that the cuts have left them
with insufficient resources to support these children.
The Leader of the Chancellor’s own Surrey council said – and I
quote – “The Government cannot stand idly by when Rome burns”.
Will the Minister/ Chief Secretary/ Chancellor commit today to
using the opportunity of next month’s Spring Statement to address
the funding crisis now facing local councils?
Q2
With the crisis in children’s services, this is not the time for
bland ministerial responses.
I’m not sure if the Ministers or Chancellor has witnessed the
suffering of a child being taken into care.
I have and it can scar a child for life.
But don’t just listen to me.
The Member for East Worthing and Shoreham’s APPG inquiry into
children’s social care warned 9 out of 10 councils are struggling
to meet their legal duties.
The President of the Association of Directors of Children’s
Services said: “we cannot go on as we are”.
It is reported that over half the councils in England are
planning further cuts to children’s services.
Recent estimates of Government spending and income would mean the
Chancellor will have sufficient resources to protect our children
from further cuts.
So can I appeal – once again - to the Chancellor to use the
Spring Statement to address the £2 billion funding gap in our
children’s services to protect our children?
