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To: Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Councillors
Rochdale Council - Set a NEEDS budget not one of CUTS!
We the undersigned are OPPOSED to CUTS in council services. We urge our Labour councillors to NOT implement the proposed £37 million of TORY cuts this year, which will see low paid workers wages cut and crucial services like substance abuse and road safety campaign facing massive cuts. We ask our councillors to examine if council money RESERVES can be used to set a NEEDS budget.
Why is this important?
Some say there is no alternative but Rochdale Borough Council could use just a portion of its £169.6m in useable reserves to avoid making the £37m worth of cuts over the next two years. Even the Government suggest that ‘local authorities lessen the impact of budget cuts by tapping into their huge reserve pots’ – Telegraph, 31st August.
We call on the Labour group on Rochdale Borough Council to take these steps whilst councillors go out into the communities, workplaces and trade union branches to build support for a no-cuts budget and have a genuine consultation with the people of Rochdale. They could then make an appeal to other Labour councils to do the same, making the Tory government’s savage cuts unworkable.
Jeremy Corbyn said in his election campaign that councils should stand together against the cuts. This is the direction that the Labour Party must go in to end austerity and safeguard our public services.
