Portsmouth Labour Party Standing up for you and our city
The Portsmouth Liberal Democrats constantly claim that they have managed our City finances so effectively that there have been “no cuts to council services”.
It is a claim that is simply not true.
The council youth services have been devastated by cuts in recent years.
Respite care for those who have responsibility for frail elderly relatives or children with complex disabilities has been reduced and severely rationed.
The specialist subject advisors that were employed by the Council to advise and support teachers in our schools have been drastically reduced in number and the support service for school governors has been closed.
Portsmouth, like every other local council in the country has had to make difficult choices over which services to reduce or close in order to balance the books. We need our local councillors to be honest with us about the scale of the task they are facing rather than to pretend that they are “protecting local public services”.1
Let’s be clear – it is successive Tory governments that are to blame for the devastating cuts in services that local councils have been forced to make in order to balance their budgets. Let’s also remember that from 2010, the Liberal Democrats were in coalition with the Tory-led government and together, they were responsible for implementing savage expenditure cuts that have decimated our public services.
Different Councils make different choices over where cuts should be made and which services should be reduced or terminated in attempting to balance their budgets. One of the major differences in expenditure between Southampton and Portsmouth is in education. In Southampton 43% of council funds are spent on education while in Portsmouth the equivalent figure is 32%.
The scandal of the underachievement of pupils in Portsmouth schools is something the Lib Dem council refuses to acknowledge or take responsibility for.
1This quotation is taken from the election leaflets currently being distributed in support of Lib Dem candidates in the Central Southsea, St Jude’s, Eastney and Craneswater, Baffins and Milton wards.
1This quotation is taken from the election leaflets currently being distributed in support of Lib Dem candidates in the Central Southsea, St Jude’s, Eastney and Craneswater, Baffins and Milton wards.