Labour Group Leader Councillor Alex Ganotis said ‘Stockport Council will have lost £297 for every household between 2011 and 2020, but Conservative-controlled South Cambridgeshire will actually have seen spending power per household increase by £14 and Tory Aylesbury by £15 over the same period.
‘If ever we needed proof that we’re not all in it together this is it. Tory cuts are hitting the most deprived communities 18 times harder than they are hitting the most affluent, rural, southern ones – there is a matter of basic fairness which simply can’t be ignored here.
‘Local people need a Labour Council to stand up for Stockport and provide the leadership through a crisis in Local Government finance which the Lib Dems helped to cause and have simply had no idea how to manage during the last 6 years.’
If the Liberal Democrats remain in control it is projected that between 2011 and 2021 Stockport Council will make £149 million of cuts across the borough, with our parks, libraries, children’s centres, care for vulnerable adults, and youth services all bearing the brunt of the reduced budget.
Since April 2011, around 1,000 people have already lost their jobs with Stockport Council, 25% of the total workforce.
Councillor Ganotis added ‘The Government are delegating cuts and tax rises rather than devolving real power to the people of Greater Manchester.
‘A Labour Council will offer the new ideas which will help to mitigate the worst impacts of the cuts which are being imposed on our borough, protecting the key public services which residents value the most.’
The Government is planning to effectively end the support it provides to the Council for local services in Stockport over the next 4 years, with the Revenue Support Grant projected to fall from over £39 million in 2015-16 to only £3 million in 2019-20.