STANDING UP FOR OSCOTT

‘Standing Up For Birmingham’ Campaign

Along with the  Birmingham City Council I am opposed to the cuts, which are being made in Westminster not Birmingham. The consequences of Government decisions are that we, and the people of Birmingham (Oscott), will see our grant funding cut by 40 per cent in a few short years. The message must be that no-one in the current administration came into politics to make such cuts and that we oppose them as strongly as anyone in the city, but that we will cannot let down the city by setting an illegal budget and bringing in ministers and Whitehall officials to run our city as we have seen what they have done to the country

The cuts are as a result of decisions made by central Government, in particular:

• The scale of the cuts overall are too deep and too fast, choking growth for three years
• There has been a significant bias towards cuts in local government – 40% when some Government departments merely have a freeze
• The unfair distribution of the cuts – up to last year Birmingham’s cut was £149 per head, compared to an average of £79 and just £19 for Wokingham.

Remember it is the Government who are forcing these cuts on the people of Birmingham including Oscott.

 I have for example have written to Eric Pickles the Government Cabinet member for Local Government asking him to re think the funding cuts his government have forced on the people of Birmingham and Oscott.
I would urge Oscott residents to do the same in order to try and get some of the awful cuts in services and amenities we may face in the future reduced.