Lobby outside town hall tomorrow as council votes on cuts

Article published: Tuesday, March 6th 2012

Anti cuts campaigners are to lobby councillors tomorrow ahead of a meeting which is expected to see the second year of a £170 million two-year cuts package passed by Manchester City Council.

The two – year budget first announced twelve months ago has already seen almost 2,000 jobs losses, the closure of Manchester Advice, severe cuts to adult social care and end of the council’s own youth service. Council-run daycare is also to be scrapped over the next two years, although a hard-fought campaign by parents and the trade union Unite has seen the rescue of universal services in the city’s Sure Start Children’s Centres.

Other successful anti-cuts campaigns over the last year have included the fight to save Levenshulme Baths, and the temporary reprieve of the council’s skeleton benefits appeal service and services to help residents prevent repossession. More cuts are expected in the years to come however, with council finance officers expecting anything from £50 million to £80 million more cuts as a “best case scenario” between 2013 and 2015.

Mark Krantz of Manchester Coalition Against Cuts said protestors would be demanding answers from councillors as to “how far will you go?” He warned that the worst of austerity was still to come and forthright resistance was necessary, saying “there’s no alternative but to unite and fight the austerity measures and the cuts.”

The lobby will be held outside Manchester town hall on Wednesday 7 March from 9.30am

More: Council, Cuts, Manchester, News

Comments

  1. Maybe they (the City Council) will start to put people and not sport first esp with yet more cuts? Do they think people are so ignorant that we don’t see the Town Hall being refurbished at great cost? (well over 150m!) and then theres the Central Library costing circa 20m, a few new arts centre mergers costing nearly 20m, a 20m contribution towards the new Co-op H/Q, a lovely Urbis revamp at 8m! Not forgetting the bmx hangar next to the Velodrome at 25m. Voila! I’ve found savings already…..yes i know some of it is part funded, but either way, theres still lots of waste. leaders/councillors take note? You can only blame the Goverment so far, then you have to start looking at your own reserves and responsibilities for your own careful housekeeping? Labour men cry wolf and speak with forked tongues me thinks!

    Comment by Ste Russell on May 8, 2012 at 2:19 pm

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