Star date: 6th December 2019

BUSES AND POLICE CUT, WHILE NUMBER OF HOMELESS CHILDREN THROUGH THE ROOF

"The scale of the cuts is both breathtaking and disturbing" Dave Prentis UNISON General Secretary

The horrific affect of the Tory Government's cuts are revealed today in a slew of new statistics about bus cuts, police cuts, austerity cuts and the number of homeless children in Salford, Greater Manchester and the North West.

The figures come from trade unions and charity Shelter, and are a shocking indictment of the last decade of Tory and Coalition governments.

Full details here...

'This is the shocking legacy of nine years of Tory spending cuts...' UNISON

There's absolutely no doubt that Salford, Greater Manchester and the North West have been absolutely hammered by Tory and Coalition Government cuts over almost the last decade. Today, a slew of press releases from trade unions and homelessness charity Shelter reveal even more statistics about the hardships affecting everyone in the region. 

First up, is a press release from union, GMB, which states that 2,500 police staff jobs have been lost across the North West since 2010. The figures include a cut of more than 600 Police Community Support Officer roles (PCSOs).

The term 'police staff' covers a wide range of roles including custody officers, 999 call handlers, PCSOs, scene of crime investigators, and technical and administrative support jobs. And these job losses are on top of cuts to police officer numbers. In Greater Manchester, there's been a 21% or over 1,000 jobs cut in all police staff jobs.

"These cuts are an absolute disgrace – not content with taking more than 20,000 police officers off our streets, under the Conservatives more than 2,500 staff roles have been slashed across the North West too" says Rachel Harrison, GMB National Officer.

"GMB members undertake essential jobs – police forces could not function without them but cuts are forcing the service to breaking point" she adds "The Tories talk tough on crime but in reality they've spent the last decade denying police forces the resources they need to keep the public safe. They have put lives at risk every day."

Meanwhile, today the TUC reveals its new figures for 34% cuts to bus services in the North West since 2010. The analysis shows that in 2010 spending on bus services in the region was £92million but by 2018 this had fallen to £61million as a result of Conservative cuts to local government funding.

In Greater Manchester, there's been a 28% cut, with a total of £44,841,660 public funding for bus services in 2010 reduced to £32,307,690 in 2018. In contrast, in 2017, more than £17million was paid out to shareholders of the five biggest private bus companies operating in the region.

"Local bus services are a vital lifeline for communities across the North West" says TUC regional secretary Jay McKenna "People use them to get to work, see friends and family and take trips to town. But Conservative cuts to local government have led to thousands of bus routes being cancelled or reduced.

"If that wasn't bad enough private bus operators have continued to pay out dividends as services have been cut back" he adds "Working families deserve a bus network fit for the 21st century. Not one run on the cheap for the benefit of shareholders."

Most gruesome of all is the amount of children who are homeless and living in temporary accommodation, the highest levels since 2006. According to a new report by homelessness charity Shelter, Salford has the second highest number in the North West with 157, or one in every 378 children, as at March 2019. It puts Salford as the 116th worst nationally for homeless children.

In the North West as a whole, there are 4,150 homeless children – a rate of just over one homeless child per every school in the region.

"In Great Britain, a family becomes homeless every 13 minutes, and a child every 8 minutes" states the Shelter report "Last year, an estimated 183 children became homeless every day. There are 9 days between the publication date of this report and the General Election, so if the rate of children becoming homeless remains constant, this means that an estimated 1,647 children will become homeless in the time between publication and the election...."

It's a point underlined by new UNISON figures showing "the human cost of the cutbacks" in the North West, revealing that a total of 176 children's centres and family hubs (which provide support services for babies, young people and families) have been closed since 2010, while 103 youth centres have been lost.

The trade union adds that even a fifth (20%) of public toilets have closed, 'with 76 public conveniences disappearing since the Conservatives came to power', and a fifth (20%) of libraries 'have either closed, been privatised or are now staffed by volunteers over the past ten years'.

"The scale of the cuts is both breathtaking and disturbing" says UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis "Each cut has a major impact on a community, whether it's a pensioner feeling isolated in their home because they can't get a bus or people being unable to borrow books or use the internet in local libraries. The widespread axeing of youth centres has left many young people with nowhere to turn at crucial points in their lives.

"Squeezed budgets have forced councils to make impossible decisions" he adds "No local authority wants to cut the services it offers but with much less funding coming from Westminster, they've often had little choice. It's vulnerable people and those least able to fend for themselves who suffer most. This is the shocking legacy of nine years of Tory spending cuts. People should think about the services lost to their communities when they cast their vote on polling day." 

And finally, some statistics about Salford itself, which over the course of the Tory/Coalition Governments since 2010, has actually has actually moved from being the 18th most deprived district in the country to being the 22nd most deprived...

In Salford, the mean household income is £29,482 which is 23% lower than the England average of £38,255. The unemployment claimant rate in Salford is 3.6% compared to 2.6% in England. 70% of the population live in areas classified as highly deprived, and 21% of Salford children (11,955 children) live in poverty compared to 17% in England.

Between 2010 and 2019, Salford City Council has had a 50% cut in core Government funding, or £98.6million... "By the end of 2018/19 the Council had made budget reductions in excess of £198million in the period since austerity began in 2010/11" the latest set of Council accounts state.