Cooper warns public services face “existential crisis” if Tories win

Yvette Cooper today warned that five more years of the a Tory Government could lead to an “existential crisis” of public services, including policing, social care and the NHS. Speaking to the Fabian Society Summer Conference, the Shadow Home Secretary said that the Tories’ cuts to public services are ideological, and that they were seeking to create a smaller state:

“The Tories are ideologically driven by the view that public services are a burden that create dependence and are part of a state that needs to shrink as far as it can.

The Tories have a narrow, limited view of public services, we believe the purpose of our public services should be to build opportunities, strengthen communities, tackle injustice and inequality.”

In comparison, Cooper said that the quality and strength of our public services is integral to Labour’s values, and seemed to reject the famous Beveridge quote that the welfare state should be “a safety net” – arguing that services have a much larger role to play in building a fair society:

“Our vision is not to create services for the sake of it; nor to create a safety net, like the Tories, nor to bow to the vested interests within the public services. Not a second-best service for those who cannot afford to go private. Never, in Tawney’s famous phrase, just ‘poor services for poor people’ .

“But public services with a purpose – promoting opportunities and empowerment, helping families build the security and confidence they need, supporting a stronger economy and a fairer society”

Accepting that funding public services at their current levels would be difficult, Cooper also outlined how an incoming Labour Government would have “a strong focus on value for money” with the biggest challenge being the ‘tough decisions about where savings can be made to support key priorities”.

UPDATE: Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham also spoke to the Fabian Summer Conference, receiving applause for reiterating his promise that Labour “will be repealing the Health and Social Care Act 2012, make no mistake about that”.

Interestingly, Burnham spoke of throwing off the state’s attachment to “nineties managerialism” – while Cooper also described the Tories’ privatisation agenda being a rehash from the 1990s. Could an equivalence to John Major’s Government be a new attack line?