#CutsHaveConsequences – Not Just A Slogan

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The rugby is over, unless I change sides and pretend to be interested in things like leeks, daffodils, dragons and women in strange pointy hats.  This has given me time to reflect on some of the more lurid headlines of the last week, not least of which was somebody tweeting that the NHS was being deliberately destroyed by the government.  I couldn’t agree more, and not just the NHS, I’m sure the same is true of many of our public services.

https://twitter.com/partychancer/status/650240729701326849

https://twitter.com/adeodatus/status/650281037067591680

That’s just a few from recent days, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of tweets in a similar vein.  Personally, I am convinced that the government are setting out to destroy the Police Service as we know it, there are clearly other folk like me who think the same about the NHS.  I’m sure there will be yet more folk who have similar views about other public services.

Maybe we’re all wrong, or possibly not.

Starting with the biggest Force in England & Wales, the Met has, in the last few days, put off a decision whether or not to scrap ALL of its PCSOs until the end of this year. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-34412324

This is due to the fact that the Met needs to cut a further £800 million over the next 4 years, so the PCSOs going, if they do, will only be a small part of it. 

The Met had recently outsourced HR, IT and Procurement.  These functions have been farmed out yo an outfit called Shared Services Connected Limited, a joint venture comprising French company Sopra Steria and our very own Cabinet Office. So much for keeping politics out of Policing, the government are now right there in the middle of MPS outsourcing.  How is this right?

Sopra Steria are renowned for offering Zero Hour Contracts and intend to operate two Call Centres, one in Wales and one oop Norf somewhere.  So much for TUPE eh, how many Met staff will relocate?

Greater Manchester Police are predicting that over the next few years their strength will be down to HALF of what it once was.  http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/greater-manchester-police-officers-cuts-10144627

In the next 4 years their numbers could be reduced to 4,000 from the 8,000 they had in 2009.

Merseyside Police are facing losing all of their PCSOs and their Mounted section in the face of cuts of ‘just’ £20 million.

Dorset Police have announced that they too are expecting  to lose all or some of their PCSOs with impending budget cuts of at least 25%.  http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/13798476.display/

West Midlands Police have announced that they will have to close down 28 buildings over the next four years to help them save £8.5 million. http://www.itv.com/news/central/2015-10-02/west-midlands-police-to-shut-28-buildings-to-save-8-5m/

The West Mercia Police and Crime Commissioner recently announced that had very little left to cut.  http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2015/09/17/west-mercia-police-chief-we-have-very-little-left-to-cut/

And so it goes, I have no intention of going round the whole 43 Forces, I’m sure you get the picture by now.

If any of you can reassure me how the Police Service can possibly survive these draconian cuts please tell me.  It seems to me that the government can always find money for things that they want to do, at the expense of starving, strangling and destroying the NHS, Police Service, Armed Forces et al.

You can call me a Conspiracy a Theorist if you want, I don’t mind, you can blame the Englisg Rugby Team for giving me some extra time to fill.

Don’t have nightmares, it might all be a bad dream.

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2 thoughts on “#CutsHaveConsequences – Not Just A Slogan”

  1. The Tories introduced austerity and began cutting everything. They will not listen to the experts about anything (the badger cull is a good example). The only conclusion I can come to is that they are intent on destroying the current system we have for NHS, Police, Ambulance, Fire Services, the Armed Forces, the Civil Service etc. and privatising it all. They seek to shackle the unions. They have introduced draconian cuts to welfare and people are dying as a result. People are being made homeless because they can’t afford their homes anymore. People are living in fear.
    Who benefits? Their rich friends and other countries.
    The privatised utilities and transport are nearly all owned by foreign companies and in some cases the state owned companies of those countries.
    I worry that by 2020 too much damage will have been caused and we will be back to a time when the people can no longer afford the basics. When they can’t afford to seek medical help. When they live in fear of what will happen next. When their human rights have been trodden into the ground.

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