As part of the national campaign against the cuts to frontline services, the TUC are organising a march in London on 26th March 2011. More details can be found at All Together for Public Services

Why we  support the TUC campaign

The Tory-led coalition government is not simply making cuts to reduce the deficit, they are pushing too hard and too fast. Not only is this likely to slow down the recovery from recession, it is already starting to have effects on local services.

Nearby hospitals have already announced reductions in nursing staff, and we are trying to find out what will happen at St Cross and at Coventry University hospitals.

The local trust that deals with mental Health, Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust, has announced that it will lose nearly a fifth of its workforce, including 300 clinical staff.

Warwickshire Police have announced job losses of 450 jobs, which is a quarter of their total workforce. The number of officers affected is not yet known, but the funding cut is above the level that the Police Federation said “will affect frontline policing to protect the public” (Coventry Telegraph, Nov 19 2010).

The County Council announced that 1,800 jobs are at risk before December’s announcement of deeper reductions in funding than expected. Already this year, care homes are being privatised and charges for services to the vulnerable have been increased massively. Fire stations will be closing across the county, including Brinklow.

Rugby Borough Council has yet to release details of how it will deal with a 15% real terms cut in next year’s budget. Tenants are already facing a large increase in rents.

The local Liberal Democrats have been claiming that they will fight against cuts, but at the same time are not criticising their party’s MPs who have backed them in Parliament and in the Cabinet. They will probably join Eric Pickles in trying to blame the council alone for reducing services, when it is clear that the Coalition Government they  is forcing local authorities to make cuts so as to avoid taking responsibility themselves.

As well as the Labour Party, there are other groups who are organising against these ideologically inspired reductions in vital public services. The False Economy site has a lot of information about how services are being affected across the country, down to local level, as well as articles outlining the economic case against the Cuts. Events are being publicised there on a regular basis.

Locally, Rugby Against the Cuts has been actively opposing reductions to services, and this is a broad group involving people from several political parties as well as independents.