Tory councils given green light to lower taxes through service cuts

A double act - Ealing's and Hammersmith & Fulham's Tory leaders.



The Times reported this week that Conservative councils are promising upfront tax cuts, squeezing spending and cutting back on funding for voluntary groups with the approval of David Cameron's inner circle. Despite the professed concern and rhetoric about social and environmental credentials many Conservative councils, including Ealing, are making cuts to services for the elderly and young people.
Ealing's neighbouring Tory borough, Hammersmith and Fulham, is leading the way with the lion share of the 34m worth of cuts to public services. At the last council meeting there were angry protests from several hundred residents objecting to the axing of funding which had sustained charitable groups that had worked with some of the borough's poorest communities. This year, the Ealing Tories benefited from a very favourable financial inheritance from the outgoing Labour administration's prudence which cushioned their cuts. However, they are likley to follow suit next year.

Clink the title above to read the New Statesman's 'Tories' attacks on public services get more exposure.'