South West Greens on the spending review

Members of the Green Party in South West – Stroud District Councillor Phillip Booth, Devon County Councillor Paula Black, and South Hams District Councillor Robert Vint – have been in touch with their thoughts on the Spending Review. Take it away guys…

Here in the South West The Green Party condemns the spending review as a regressive, deceitful social and economic experiment upon the poorest and most vulnerable. But perhaps the greatest deceit is levelled upon the whole of the nation, with the constant mantra that these cuts are necessary.

The Green Party maintains that we we need deficit management, but wholesale cuts upon the structure of the state is an illogical and destructive way to achieve stability. The Green Party promotes tax rises that are proportional to income on individuals and businesses, closing loop holes in in massive tax evasion, the cutting of spending in areas of the old oil based economy and reviewing the defence budget to include the renewal of Trident.

These fully costed measures are coupled with the creation of one million jobs through the Green New Deal providing a radical way forward that benefits the whole of our nation, from the poorest to the richest. Under The Green Party we would have two million more jobs, than the cuts provide.

Local government will lose 28 per cent of its funding over the next four years, compared to 14 per cent reductions to the royal household. Such dramatic cuts upon local councils will have a direct affect upon services essential to the well being of our communities, the ability of councils to provide good services or move towards a more sustainable society.

Devon County Councillor Paula Black said: “We have already begun to see the direct impact that the cuts this finical year has had on officers being able to deliver the level of service they wish too, these next cuts are going to be devastating.”

Notions of fairness have gone out the window as vital public services go to the wall, hitting the poorest hardest, yet leaving road-building programs enacted.

Meanwhile, public bodies whose purpose is to hold corporations to account are being swept away by the so-called ‘bonfire of the quangos’. Yet public bodies, like the ECGD and CDC, whose purpose is to help boost corporate profits, regardless of the consequences for people and the environment, have sailed through unharmed.

As economist David Blanchflower warned, there’s a strong possibility that the cuts programme will precipitate a bigger crisis: “It’s a terrible, terrible mistake. The sensible thing to do is to spread [the cuts] over a long time”.

We need to stabilise the economy and prevent mass unemployment, but in the longer term we have to face climate change and the wider environmental crisis. Green Party South Hams District Councillor Robert Vint states: “It’s worth pointing out too that sacking half a million public sector employees will massively increase the amount we need to pay out in unemployment benefit and redundancy settlements so any savings are smaller than they seem.”

Where are the increased taxes on the rich? Why are banks not paying more for their mistakes? Where is the real investment in tax evasion and avoidance that costs £50bn plus a year? Where is the green investment we need to tackle energy security, climate change and increase jobs? These savage and deeply damaging Tory/Lib Dem cuts are not necessary. There are so many other ways to bring about stability, employment, social cohesion and fairness.

Related posts:

1. South West to be hit hard by Government’s austerity programme The South West TUC says the region will be hit...