The political bias in local government cuts is clear for all to see

As clouds gather over the Mersey and rain starts to fall here at UNISON conference, a new report for UNISON Local Government by the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) highlights the perfect storm awaiting local communities if the Coalition persists with its devastating austerity programme. Its release  – in the week before George Osborne threatens to wreak further havoc on councils and all those who depend on them through the Comprehensive Spending Review- is a timely intervention into the debate over the impact of Coalition austerity and the alternative we so badly need.

Just to remind readers of the extent of the cuts in public spending  – and on local government budgets in particular: Before next week’s  CSR announcement, we know that overall public spending will fall from 48% of GDP in 2009/10 to 40.5% in 2017/18 if the Coalition’s current trajectory is followed. The  disproportionate impact on local government is evident – One third of the total budget gone by 2015, with huge inequalities in the financial settlement to councils. Just look at UNISON’s conference venue Liverpool, where economic and social deprivation has long been a feature of the local landscape: 11.3% gone from the budget and a reduction in spending of £252 per resident. Contrast that to wealthy and leafy Richmond-Upon-Thames (only coincidentally home to Vince Cable I’m sure!), seeing just a 0.6% drop in its income and true blue Cheshire, Windsor, Wokingham and Surrey similarly unaffected.

The political bias is clear for all to see, with Manchester and Newcastle also high on the ‘losers’ list.

“The Cuts: The UK’s Damaged Future” is an important intervention in the austerity debate, bringing to bear the lengthy experience of CLES in working with councils and public bodies on economic development and sustainability. It also draws on important research carried out for UNISON on the outcome of deep cuts inflicted by the  now-deposed Tories in Nottinghamshire and Suffolk County Council’s discredited plan to outsource all of its functions and create a Big Society. Its key conclusions are:

• The Coalition’s austerity measures have not only failed to reduce government debt, they have created a “flat-lining economy”, record levels of unemployment, extreme social hardship and are fundamentally fragmenting our society
• The  “irrevocably damaged” economy and society caused by the cuts  will create “a lost decade of growth and development”
• Cuts to the community and voluntary sectors are exacerbating the loss of council services and will add to the lack of co-ordination between services and undermining of preventative approaches which save the public sector money – such as employment and benefits advice and adult social care
• The growth in the elderly and young populations will place even greater strain on council budgets and public services, with the Local Government Association saying that almost all other services will have to be sacrificed to pay for statutory services like eldercare and education
• Local economic and social networks which promote healthy local economies and social cohesion are being eroded by the Coalition’s calculated run-down of local government
• Local government is critical to future  ‘place stewardship’ and needs to have much more – not less – support to enable councils to foster local economic development and meet the growing needs of local populations
• The Coalition has failed to recognise the North/South divide or differences  across and within regional economies and populations in its austerity plan and is exacerbating the hardships created by the Thatcher governments in mining and other areas left devastated by pit closures and the run down of manufacturing
• The shocking 380,000 redundancies in local government so far- with over one third of all posts taken out in NW councils like Manchester and Salford- are having a severely negative impact on local economies as the fall in local spend causes local businesses to fail
• The impact on women is particularly harsh. 77% of council workers and 65% of all public sector workers are women, whose lives are also most negatively affected by cuts to services too
• Any future industrial and economic strategies will need to include infrastructure and housing development, but must also recognise the skill and occupational mismatch between unemployment amongst women – much higher than amongst men because of public sector cuts – and construction and heavy manufacturing

So what are the solutions and what should be the role of UNISON and other unions to the government’s austerity plan and the future re-construction of our eceonomy and civil society?

First and foremost, the report makes a strong case for increased – not shattered – public expenditure to meet growing social need and sustain local economies and communities through expenditure of ‘the public pound’ on jobs, services and procurement of locally produced goods. It supports community budgeting to enhance the value of public expenditure and to democratise local public spending and services.

The ‘tax gap’ created by tax concessions to business and the better-off, tax avoidance and evasion needs to be closed, says the report. Not only is there £39 billion in uncollected tax each year, but tens of billions of pounds more ‘lost’ through unlawful bending of the rules and tax havens. Just imagine what might be possible if that funding were available and put to good public and economic use! That implies that labour and UNISON need to be making a clear case for positive taxation to fund quality public services.

On future industrial and economic strategy, CLES calls for a clear move away from a spacially neutral,  “rising tide lifts  all ships” approach to one in which new values underpin a revived economy in which modern manufacturing must play a part – (Ed balls are you listening?) The concept of ‘public value’ should be at the heart of government policy, with all efforts focussed on promoting social and cultural, political, environmental and economic value and wellbeing. . Social cohesion, a more democratic economy, reduced carbon emissions and economic intervention which recognises local and regional differences will all be needed.

Last and certainly not least, the report raises some important questions for UNISON and other unions to consider. While recognising the growing need for our traditional, ‘bread and butter’ defensive activities ,  it suggests a wider role in continuing to highlight the short-termism and wider impact of Coalition cuts  as exemplified in UNISON Local Government’s series on ‘The Damage’ to environmental health, trading standards and – most recently – libraries. It calls on us to move beyond focussing solely on fighting cuts (which it recognises as our core business) to thinking about the design of public services of the future and how public money could be used to develop a preventative – as well as curative- approach, which could help save money on health services and promote a healthier, better educated society based on a shared notion of public value.

I hope that branches and Regions will use it to generate debate while fighting to slay the Coalition beast.

Heather Wakefield is UNISON’s head of local government. This piece forms part of our coverage of Unison conference, which is taking place in Liverpool this week