Moray Council is proposing cuts to a swathe of services - community engagement, rural serivces, roads maintenance, youth work which helps reduce anti-social behaviour and public toilets. Community Centres, swimming pools, libraries and halls have been 'saved' for now, but now face being farmed out to a 'Trust'. We only have to look at Moray Leisure Centre to see how successful trusts are. While 'Trusts' may reduce the tax bill in the short term they result in a loss of accountability to local communities, a fragmented and uncoordinated approach to service delivery, and offer no guarantee against future cuts.
Cutting services results in a lower standard of living - people in rural communities face greater isolation, unable to access services, employment and shops, vandalism and anti-social behaviour will increase and the quality of roads and other infrastructure will deteriorate.
All the time we are hearing that we need to cut services to reduce the deficit, to produce a balanced budget, because the state has got to big, but what is actually behind the cuts? Britain currently has less debt as a proportion of GDP than many G20 countries, including Japan and Germany. Before the financial crisis our debt and deficit were sustainable, it was the bailing out of the banks, combined with falling tax revenues and rising costs for benefits due to the recession that have caused the rise in our deficit, not overall spending on public services. In 1948 we had a higher proportion of debt compared to GDP than we do now, yet we were able to set up the NHS and the Welfare State. Other countries with larger deficits than ours are continuing to invest in their economies, knowing that this is the only way out of the recession. Ireland, which followed advice to implement drastic cuts in spending has entered a downward spiral, as job losses and reduced services further damage the economy.
Yes, by protecting services and investing in infrastructure we can ensure that the economy recovers, that we don't enter a double dip recession, and that quality of life is maintained. See the STUC There is a Better Way campaign for more details:
Moray UNISON has responded to the councils proposals by pointing out that many are flawed, will not achieve the desired savings and will adversely affect vulnerable members of the public. Read more...