Plymouth council leader warns of damage of further local government cuts

Tudor Evans, the Leader of Plymouth City Council and 151 other council leaders from across the country have called for the Coalition to re-think plans to make futher cut-backs to local government funding.

In a letter to The Observer newspaper, published yesterday (Sunday 16 June 2013), Cllr Evans joined other cross-party senior local government leaders and Local Government Authority (LGA) officials to warn of the impact of a further round of cuts on local services.

The co-signatories to the letter state:

"By the end of this parliament, councils' funding from central government will have been cut by 33%. In comparison, Whitehall departments will have faced average reductions of 12%.

"This pattern cannot be repeated without it having a serious impact on local services and people."

The letter calls for the next round of local government finance to "be put on a sustainable footing" and argues for a need to create greater efficiences by the "rewiring of public services":

"The only way of maintaining them in the face of proposed long-term cuts is to design them around the needs of people and communities. That means devolving budgets away from Whitehall to increase co-operation between public agencies, save money and improve services."

The chairman of the LGA, Sir Merrick Cockell, is also a signatory to the letter.

"Local government bore the brunt of cuts in the last spending review." say the signatories.

"For the sake of the public it cannot afford to do so again. It would be bad for the country, bad for people and bad for our prospects of economic recovery if funding for local services is cut further to reinforce inefficiencies within Whitehall."

The full text of the letter can be found on The Observer's website:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2013/jun/16/letters-council-leaders-protest-cuts