Spending Cuts

I received an email last week from the previous County Councillor for my ward who is a Labour party member. He was terribly excited about some rumours going around that departments in the Council were being asked to find places to make significant spending cuts for next year.

Firstly, I had the delight of referring him to his ward Councillors - as many will know that this chap who thinks he speaks for the people of where I actually live, can't bring himself to actually live here and therefore I'm not his Councillor. I personally think that Councillors and MP's who live in and understand the area in which they live do a much better job than those who believe they can "nurse" from afar.

The next point of interest was that he thought he'd struck some kind of coup because I hadn't also heard the rumours. This could be because there is no truth in them, or it could be because officers do not need to consult with ward Councillors whilst going about their day to day jobs. Either way I don't believe I'd let myself down by not knowing.

Now in this case there probably is some truth in it - and I want to consider two points surrounding this.

1. Why cuts <> reduction in services

Seems pretty obvious to me. Whatever the product or service is that you need to procure, there's nearly always a cheaper way of getting it. More often than not, this doesn't result in a reduction in quality or quantity of what it is you're after. We will have duplication and inefficiencies in Cheshire East as a natural result of the aggregation of boroughs and it's right that we should look to eradicate this.

There's an exception to my view - and that's when you try and make these savings at short notice. That is why consulting with departments *now* on how savings could be made *next year* is the right thing to do, so that the heads of service have time to put the cost cutting measures into place rather than finding out at the last minute that they can't do what they had planned.

2. Why cuts are needed

There's one thing common about all areas in my ward - no one makes a huge amount of money. This isn't Prestbuy, Alderley, or even Bollington (where the gentleman in question lives). We work hard to pay our way, and don't mind doing so, but we don't want our money wasted.

I expect good value for money from public services and I expect elected representatives to seek that.

When we look to the national scene we see that Labour are criticising us because we are not afraid to suggest that spending cuts need to be made. Many are not aware that when you lump public debt in with off-balance sheet pensions liabilities and the true cost of the bank bailout the total figure now comes in around £3 trillion. That's getting on for £50k per person, and I think that's rotten.

When you find your own personal debt is high you look where you can save money. It's not fun, and it's not comfortable, but it's what this country needs to do now.