Posted by Hari on Thursday, February 11, 2016 with 1 comment | Labels: Austerity, Big Society, budget cuts, Cameron, elections, inequality, MP, Osborne, politicians, protests, public sector, taxation, Tories
SOURCE BBC NEWS: David Cameron's
mother signs anti-cuts petition
Mary Cameron, 81, has put her name to a campaign against
plans by Conservative-run Oxfordshire County Council to close a number of the
centres. Retired magistrate, Mrs Cameron, told the newspaper: "My name is
on the petition but I don't want to discuss this any further." She
reportedly signed the petition while visiting her son in Oxfordshire.
Campaigners are trying to stop the closure of nearly all of Oxfordshire's 44
children's centres - the county council wants to keep eight hubs, to save £8m
pounds. The petition describes the proposals as a "false economy",
and says the early intervention services provide numerous economic and other
long-term benefits. Campaign organiser Jill Huish said she was "not
surprised" to have the Prime Minister's mother's endorsement. "It
shows how deep austerity is cutting our most vulnerable when even David
Cameron's mum has had enough," she said. The prime minister previously
wrote to the local authority in his capacity as MP for Witney expressing
"disappointment" at planned cuts to museums, libraries and day
centres for the elderly. But council leader Ian Hudspeth hit back, saying the
cuts were the result of reductions in funding from central government. Members
of Unite employed in early intervention by Oxfordshire County Council will walk
out on strike on February 16 after voting overwhelmingly for industrial action.
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Even describing the closing of the centres as a 'saving' is inaccurate as this will create future expense when vulnerable families have nowhere to go or the referral system takes too long and crises become compounded, forcing other services to step in. It will no longer be 'early intervention' but too little, too late. It's a false economy to describe 44 centres reaching 30,000 children versus 8 centres reaching just 1,500. The cost per child per year will rise from over £500 to over £5,000 under the new scheme- which doesn't strike me as as a 'saving'.
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