Labour volunteers across SE11 are currently delivering a new leaflet, explaining the scale and impact of the government's cuts to Lambeth Council.
Everybody was expecting cuts to council funding, but the harshness with which the Lib Dem- Tory Coalition has targetted local government has taken everybody by surprise.
Lambeth will have to find £90 million in savings, from a budget of around £300 million. To make matters worse, the cuts are 'frontloaded' to the next financial year, meaning £40 million will have to be taken out of the budget by April 2010.
Labour councillors will be doing everything in our power to mitigate the effects of the cuts, but it is inevitable that there will be reductions in services, job losses, and difficult decisions.
Distressingly, cuts on this scale are not even necessary or sensible. As Lambeth's finance chief Paul McGlone explains:
'Like other countries, Britain has big debts from bailing out the banks to save our economy from collapsing. All parties supported that. But while Labour wanted to pay off the debt at a rate the country could afford, the Lib Dems and Tories have pushed through plans to cut services hard and deep - creating the risk of another recession and higher unemployment. It's like trying to pay off a mortgage in five years instead of over 25 - you wouldn't do it, and nor should the government'.
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