Valentine’s rally against cuts
Demonstrators joined a rally outside County Hall this morning, ahead of a budget meeting which will decide where millions of pounds will be cut.
The council called it the toughest budget in its history.
Speakers addressed the rally dubbed the ‘Valentine’s Day Massacre of Services’, lobbying councillors to reject the proposed cuts. Instead, the protesters offer an alternative; taking government action to tackle the national deficit, such as ending corporate tax evasion.
The cuts, which amount to £155 million over the next 3 years, affect a range of services. There was anger that the closure of youth centres is perhaps the most severe cut in youth services in the country.
Over 2,000 signatures have been gathered against plans to close the Unthank Family Centre, who provide help and therapy for children who have suffered trauma and abuse. A spokesperson for the public sector union, Unison said: “The closure of the Unthank Centre with most of the jobs cut will mean a vital preventative resource will be lost.”
Mark Hughes, vice chair of Norfolk Coalition Against the Cuts said: ‘If Conservative plans go ahead, [...] today will be infamously remembered as Norfolk’s own Valentine’s Day Massacre of Services, when many vulnerable people including a generation of young Norfolk people were abandoned.”
Norfolk County Council agreed the ‘toughest’ budget in its history, set in the context of the most difficult financial situation the council had ever faced, in a meeting which lasted over 4 hours.
Council leader Derrick Murphy stressed that the savings had been carefully thought through and followed the most comprehensive consultation with Norfolk people ever carried out by the County Council.
The Norfolk protest is one of many being staged across the UK today. Over ten coaches have been booked to transport local campaigners to London on Saturday 26th March to join a “March for the Alternatives”.
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