Sunday 16 February 2014

Two-faced Labour

Peter Black exposes the reality within the Labour Party behind the rhetoric on banking and high-earners.

John Hemming was able recently in a parliamentary debate to confirm that Labour does not intend to reverse the cuts to local government brought in by George Osborne and Eric Pickles: "We will not be able to stop the cuts or turn back the clock, but we will put fairness at the heart of the relationship between central and local government, and at the heart of our approach to local government finance." I take this to mean that they intend to redistribute government local authority financial support away from areas which are seen to be Conservative or Liberal Democrat supporting. This may be enough to keep Unison and Unite on board, but the inequity between urban and rural areas, highlighted by Nick Harvey, would increase.

I assume that this "fairness" would mean a consequential cut in the local government element in the budget settlement for Wales. So do not believe those Labour local councillors who say that services are bound to improve if Labour is returned to government; they could get worse.




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