News
15/07/2010
Inside Politics - July 2010
We all knew it was going to be tough and we knew the new government was on a mission to cut public spending faster and deeper than necessary. But there's been a lot of surprise and shock at the decision to completely withdraw £200million of BSF funding from our local schools. Many people expected the budget to be cut but few expected it all to go completely in one swift pen stroke.
The hopes of thousands of children, teachers and parents across Batley and Spen were wiped out in an instant. New schools will not be built, existing schools will not be modernised. Not to mention the chaos over secondary education in Batley and the middle school question in Cleckheaton.
Ironically, if the Conservative group had been able to make a decision on BSF when they ran Kirklees Council up until last year then a lot of these projects would now be up and running and safe from these cuts. We are all now counting the costs of their prevarication and stalling tactics.
One phrase I keep hearing at the moment is "Don't blame me, I voted Labour!" It's becoming a badge of honour and echoes a similar catchphrase from the early days of Margaret Thatcher as her government went about destroying British manufacturing. Let's be clear though - if Labour was now in Government we would be seeing cuts, there's no doubt about it. Just not on this scale. But BSF would be going ahead. Primary and secondary schools would be seeing record investment. Our local courts would not be under threat of closure nor would our pensions be cut by 15 per cent.
And the cuts wouldn't be being inflicted with such gusto and thinly disguised glee. I haven't been surprised by the cuts but the one thing that has disturbed me over the last few weeks is the delight with which ministers, even Lib Dem ministers, wielded the knife and devastated the lives of working men and women and their families.
Reducing the deficit at a cost of more than a million jobs is not a price worth paying. Plus the more we cut people's incomes - either through job loses or through cynical increases in regressive taxes such as VAT - the less money people will spend, the economy will suffer and the threat of double dip recession looms ever closer.
Any one keen to see even a shadow of a positive may notice the increased awareness and level of engagement with politics. People are actively talking about the current situation, no doubt because it is such a threat to their lives and standard of living. But we're also seeing people motivated to oppose numerous elements of the planned cuts.
Unions, which represent millions of working people, are attracting more and more members, local people are standing up over threats to the courts and we are seeing parents come forward eager to play a part in solving the mess our schools have suddenly been dumped in. Resistance is our only option.
