LETTER: Tory-led Coalition part of the problem

In their determination to enforce a reckless cuts programme that goes too far and too fast, the Tories have slashed local council budgets but instead of spreading the load, they have deliberately targeted the communities that can least afford it, and it is areas like Pendle that are paying the price.

Data gathered by Newcastle City Council shows how the Coalition is to impose central government funding cuts on local authorities in the forthcoming years.

Newcastle has considered money provided to 330 local authorities directly and also through schemes such as the new homes bonus and the council tax freeze.

Over a three-year period, the divide between North and South is to be aggravated.

Tory councils in the South will receive a very small cut of £16 per head of population and yet only have child poverty levels of 10%.

The 50 poorest councils receive cuts on average of £160 per head.

In the marginal Tory-held constituency of Pendle, the loss amounts to £92.22 per head with child poverty level at 22%, but David Cameron’s local authority of West Oxfordshire is losing just £34.33 per person with child poverty level at 8.1%.

The real enemies in Pendle are not only poverty, inadequate housing and unemployment.

We must include this Tory-led Coalition too.

COUN. MOHAMMED IQBAL

Pendle Labour Group Leader