Former Education Secretary and Home Secretary, Rt Hon David Blunkett MP, has reacted to Nick Clegg’s assertion that it is "progressive" to embark on massive cuts now to slash the deficit.
Mr Blunkett was responding to the Deputy Prime Minister’s speech today, in which Mr Clegg said that "There is nothing progressive about condemning ourselves and our children to decades of debt" and "fewer jobs", while asking how we could achieve social justice "while our schools and hospitals fall apart".
Mr Blunkett said: "It is a bit rich of Nick Clegg to lament the debt facing young people when he has already abolished the Child Trust Fund savings account of every young person and when his party is preparing to execute an ugly U-turn and go along with Tory plans to hit students with higher tuition fees.
"It also ill behoves him to worry about our schools falling apart when the Government of which he is the deputy leader is refusing to confirm the continuance of the Building Schools for the Future programme."
Mr Blunkett added: "Cutting people’s personal services is far from progressive — and Nick Clegg is not protecting the most vulnerable front line services, including in his own city of Sheffield.
"The coalition themselves have admitted as much to me, when Local Government minister Bob Neill told me in the Commons last week that ‘Those in greatest need ultimately bear the burden of paying off the debt’."
Mr Blunkett pointed to the study, A Tale of Two Cities, undertaken by the internationally-renowned team at the Department of Human Geography at the University of Sheffield, led by Professor Danny Dorling, which highlighted the divide in services and personal well-being between the richer and poorer areas of Sheffield.
He said: "The Lib Dems’ agenda during their time in control of Sheffield has been one of withdrawing services from the most disadvantaged in the city and diverting wealth towards better off areas. Their programme for national government seems to be along the same lines.
"There appears to be a blind spot here, with the media failing to highlight that those without a voice — the least well-off in our society — are facing the biggest cutbacks and the harshest consequences, which well-off commentators and politicians are advocating as ways of cutting the deficit.
"We have an Office for Budget Responsibility. Perhaps we need an independent Office for Government Responsibility, which could point out that David Cameron and Nick Clegg are passing the buck to local government, which will cop the blame for the cuts which are about to befall us.
"Ignoring the pain of those who are already less well off is a hallmark of the detachment of the political class from the reality of life at the sharp end."
ENDS
Comments