Is the UK’s austerity policy putting lives at risk?
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In the wake of the appalling Grenfell Tower disaster questions are being asked in the UK about the government’s policy of public spending cuts in local authorities and the emergency services.
At Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons yesterday, the leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn said to the Prime Minister, Theresa May ‘when you cut local authority spending by 40%, we all pay a price in terms of public safety, fewer inspectors, fewer building control inspectors, fewer planning inspectors, we all pay a price.”
Mr Corbyn was referring to the government’s policy of public spending cuts since 2010 to deal with the shortfall between the amount of public spending and the amount of public income through taxation. This policy has been controversial as public services such as local authorities and the emergency services have suffered as a result of cuts to their budgets.
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Campaigners are arguing that recent events at Grenfell Tower have shown how the drive to cut public spending has resulted in inadequate safety checks and shoddy workmanship by local authorities and their contractors. They support Jeremy Corbyn’s case it is impossible to maintain the same standard of service that was being provided by local authorities, emergency services and the National Health Service in 2010 before the austerity cuts started to bite.
Concerns are now being expressed by social change pressure groups like the Joseph Rowntree Foundation that local authorities and the emergency services now reached a tipping point where disaster like that at Grenfell Tower will become more commonplace unless more resources are directed into local authorities and the emergency services.
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