Finally, we have a government prepared to fund local services says Sue Wood-Griffith
For over a decade up to last summer our Worcestershire County Council was politically allied to successive national Conservative governments and shared their ‘small-state’, privatising ideology. During this period, we all know that public services suffered a massive decline as budgets were deliberately squeezed, private companies profited while cost-cutting hit bus services, library opening hours, the condition of our roads, social and educational services and much more.
Now we have a Labour government nationally which, despite extraordinary financial pressures, is beginning to address some of this historic failure. In November Worcestershire received £9.4 million of annual government grant to improve local bus services, which have declined here more than in almost any other Transport Authority in the country. More recently, the County Council were allocated over £7.5 million of new funding to fix over 100,000 pot holes in Worcestershire’s roads, provided they delivered these results. Funding is being provided by central government to schools to deliver free breakfast clubs which will support both educational attainment and stretched family budgets. We could go on.
But one challenge to delivering these much-needed improvements is the political make-up of our County Council which is now in stark contrast to that of national government. On May 1st voters have a chance to change this by electing Labour candidates who share with the government a real belief in public services and who will be fully committed to establishing these improvements at pace locally.
Conservatives will tell you that voting Labour will cost you, when in fact national figures show that average Council Tax bills are over £300 a year lower in Labour-run authorities than Conservative—run ones. So, let’s take the opportunity to align our local politics more closely to those nationally and vote Labour on May 1st.
Sue Wood-Griffiths
Secretary, Droitwich & Evesham Labour Party