Pickles blames Labour for council cuts

Eric Pickles – in Belgrave Road, Hathershaw – on his visit to Oldham

COMMUNITIES Secretary Eric Pickles has defended cuts to council grants as the axe hangs over 800 jobs at Oldham Council.

On a visit to Oldham, the Conservative Minister blamed Labour for cuts rather than the Coalition Government.

Oldham Council will lose almost £30 million in the next two years as part of radical Government spending cuts.

The council is having to axe up to 800 jobs to save £45 million over two years.

Oldham will see its allocation slashed by £21 million this year - an 8.23 per cent reduction in overall spending power - followed by a further £8.4 million in 2012-13, a 3.63 per cent cut.

But the figures announced by Mr Pickles last month measure the reduction in overall spending power rather than loss of government grants, which amount to a cut of 18.9 per cent.

Town Halls in the North appear to be bearing the brunt with cuts of up to 23 per cent compared to as little as four per cent for shires in the South. Twenty of the 30 hardest hit councils are run by Labour compared with 28 of the 30 councils that will see the smallest cuts being Conservative-led. Buckinghamshire will see a cut of eight per cent and Surrey 6.3 per cent.

When asked about Oldham Council cuts, Mr Pickles said: “They will have to make economies — but why? Because we have been left with the most difficult financial situation of any government.”

He said Gordon Brown and the Labour party had created a huge budget deficit and the Conservatives would have to rescue the country from that position.

Asked if the North was receiving an unfair deal, he said: “They certainly won’t be because of the protection we have offered to this area is greater than Surrey and the money coming from the centre is greater. Central Manchester and Oldham will receive something like £850 a head, while Surrey is £200.”

Asked if the cuts were fair, he replied: “It’s due to the legacy that Labour has left us. I don’t think it’s fair to the people of the North West that Labour has very badly let us down.”

On the council job losses, he told the Evening Chronicle: “That seems to me like they have issued statutory notices and it means a reduction in posts not necessarily jobs. I would be very surprised if we are talking about actual reductions in jobs. They should be placed on the back of the Labour Party.”

Asked about police cuts, Mr Pickles said: “You seem to think there’s a choice but it’s a necessity. There’s no real alternative.”

He also defended the coalition, saying: “We are two separate and distinct parties who have come together to get this country out of the mess it’s in.”