Barbara Keeley, MP for Worsley and Eccles South, has criticised the Chancellor’s Budget for putting public services in Salford at risk.
The Independent Office for Budget Responsibility says that George Osborne’s plans will mean “a much sharper squeeze on real spending in 2016/17 and 2017/18 than anything seen over the past five years” and “a sharp acceleration in the pace of implied real cuts to day-to-day spending on public services”.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has also challenged Osborne to outline exactly how he planned to cut welfare spending by £12bn, warning the poor and disadvantaged had lost the most from changes to benefits over the past five years.
Since 2010, Government cuts to Salford City Council’s budget have already seen a £149 million shortfall in public spending.
And savage in-year cuts have made planning for the changes all the more difficult for councils to cope with.
Ms Keeley said: “The Conservative-led Government is planning extreme cuts to our public services. Since 2010, people in Salford have already lost £233 per person from local services due to cuts.
“Now the Office for Budget Responsibility says that Conservative plans would mean a much sharper squeeze on spending than anything that we have already seen over the past five years.”
“The Government’s irresponsible plans would put essential services such as social care, the NHS and policing at risk. In Salford we simply cannot afford to have another five years of extreme cuts because vulnerable people will lose the services they badly need.”
“We can control government finances in a way which does not threaten vital services such as social care and the NHS.
“We can do this through dealing with low pay, raising taxes for some of the richest people in society, helping small businesses and sensible spending cuts. A Labour Government would tackle the deficit but we would do this in a fair and balanced way.”
