Bonkers Budget adds up to cuts

He may be smiling... but you definately wont be...

Have just had a quick look at the budget figures and they are bleak and depressing. It is clear that the chancer Cllr Jarrett and his Tories have utterly mismanaged the finances for 2011/12 and have presented a bonkers budget for 2012/13 that simply doesnt add up.

In many other authorities across the UK the ruling group (whether Tory, Lib Dem , Labour or NOC) have actively consulted the public in open forums. Our administration has been desperate to keep the budget process hidden from public view; and we now know why.

There are many Councils controlled by Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats who have successfully managed the finances. This is not a partisan point; this is the incompetence of our current Conservatives in Medway.

The budget is a bloody mess

We have eye-watering shortfalls and cuts within caused ostensibly because the Council is spending too much.

In addition this is another budget which is very likely to fall apart and result in a budget, like this years, which will require a Tory raid on our capital reserves. An unsustainable position for the future.

This blog has reported on countless botched projects and overspends over the last 12 months at schools, bus stations, transport schemes and beyond. Not helped by the fact that Medway Tories oversee one of the mose fraudulant authorities in the country. They have simply lost control; all analysis points to a lack of political control.

Residents across Medway will likely feel that the Tories were elected on the basis of false promises following the publication of this bonkers budget.

Cuts to front line services are happening and will get even worse.

The draft proposals, which will be debated at the next Full Council meeting on 23rd February, show dramatic cuts to adult social care budgets, including ‘Supporting People’ funding which is targeted at the most vulnerable in society, including those with mental health issues and victims of domestic violence.

The budget also presumes that the closure of the Balfour Centre will go ahead, precluding the outcome of the consultation – but also offering another stark contrast to the Conservative election pledge of “Continuing to improve front line services such as care homes”.Likewise Sure Start centres, which give invaluable support to families across Medway, were a key source of debate during the election.

The Tories claimed Medway’s Sure Start centres were ‘safe’ with them and would not see funding reduced – yet they are now highlighted as a target for budget reductions.

The good news items are directly lifted either from our manifesto or are a result of the previous Labour administration in Medway

Good News items

Freeze in Council Tax - This was proposed by Medway Labour at the budget last year and it was copied by the Conservatives in the local election manifesto. We have led on this locally.

Lowest Council Tax in Kent - This is the lowest tax in Kent because under the last Labour Council we scrapped an entire tier of local government from the majority of Medway. Whilst Tory Kent has a district and County system we have a single layer of governance. The fact the Tories have maintained our record was due to tax rate capping by John Prescott and under Eric Pickles.

Bad News items (which stand out for me) on revenue and tax wheezes by the Conservatives

• Tory bulky waste tax to be introduced – we will see second charges for collections at£17.50 per collection
• Park and Ride – disposal of popular park and ride at Horsted
• Roads / Potholes – Road Maintenance (re-surfacing and potholes) budget reduced by £250,000
• Crematorium 'income' will increase

Of course the real bad news is in the small print which I and others will be going over with a fine tooth pick over the next couple of days.

Tory cuts to Care Homes

The attempt by Medway Conservatives to try and spin the reasons for Care Home cuts as being somehow beneficial to the elderly is low by even their standards.

The Timetable for cuts is now all but certain:

• 8th December 2011 - Consultation begins with service users until early February
• 26th January 2011 - Health and ASC Overview & Scrutiny Committee debate the paper. Tory-led committee will vote it through.
• 14th February 2011 - Cabinet consider the outcome and will rubber stamp the Tory position; despite objections from stakeholders

We know how Tories treat consultation exercises - Cabinet member Tom Mason made clear over the summer that Consultations would be 'binned' and ignored. Ironically over the Dartford Crossing tolls (which was a u-turn!).

We can all remember the Primary School closures which saw the Tories close good schools on the back of dodgy statistics.

There is a meeting tommorrow night to discuss the closures at the Corn Exchange in Rochester from 6.30-9.00pm.

There are however some simple truths. It is clear that there remain significant numbers of people with physical disabilities and an increasingly ageing and single population and that the reduction in numbers in Balfour, Robert Bean, Platters Farm and Nelson Court is not related to demand which we know is present.

We know that the number of elderly people is increasing as a result of demographics, but is instead about the erosion of eligibility.

The Tory spin, and it is spin, is that this is all about improving customer choice. It is total fiction.

The Council is facing unprecendented cuts from central government to the tune of 28% over four years. This is a no mean endeavour in good times but add in the fiscal incompetence of Councillor Jarrett and the Tory mugs who run the Council, we also have a current budget shortfall of £5.1m on revenue budgets and £2.8m on capital spend.

The Tories have utterly mismanaged the Council books and as result we are witnessing these cuts.

From my estimates and budget analysis the 'outsourcing' of residential care services will deliver 'efficiencies' (or service degredation) to the tune of £1m per annum.

Reduction in numbers?

I know several consituents who were prevously eligible to attend the centre who were rejected because they became ineligible. The fact is we know the Tories need to make up the budget shortfall. We know they have cut services and rejecting users would be a reason.

The Tories this blog suspects and alleges have made it increasingly hard for members of the public to use the facility so reducing attending numbers to the point it could justify closure.

And what is to happen to the Balfour specialist units?

The Balfour site is occupied by several specialist units including the Enhanced Care Unit. If this service is cut it may have to be relocated; is the service guaranteed?

And redundancies?

Councillor Brake has made clear there will be no redundancies. This is inappropriate to promise something they cant deliver.

The Council can certainly minimise redundancies and make the redeployment pool more open but they can not guarantee jobs for staff. Whats more those two Cabinet members should know it; and probably do.

Evidence from Shaw's Wood which was sold off and privatised in 2006/2007 shows there were redundancies.

Tory claim that homes are unsafe or open to 'widespread abuse'?

No one has made any assertion that Nelson Court, Robert Bean, Platters Farm or Balfour are unsafe. The assertion in the cabinet holder's speech is therefore inappropriate and not relevent to the debate.

Incidently the worst cases of recent abuse have been in private care homes so actually nullifying the point.

Southern Cross?

The issue surrounding Southern Cross in the portfolio holders statement is irrelevent. The fact is the uncertainty surrounding the homes was very concerning to Southern Cross residents and the Council had to pay staff members to come up with contingency plans at time and expense.

In addition there were several homes owned by Southern Cross that did have to close. Medway was fortunate in that the landlords could take responsbility.

The government has even made it clear that the Private Equity model used by Southern Cross was unethical.

Sadly our Medway Conservatives think asset stripping and selling things off is morally correct.

Either way; the point is irrelevent to the debate.

Most people of reasoned judgement can see this Conservative exercise for what it is.

The simple fact is that because of Conservative cuts nationally, coupled with fiscal incompetence on the current budget Conservatives have to make cuts and savings. They have identified the most vulnerable adults as a service which can be reduced.

Cutting £1m will reduce the service quality or outcomes for those in care. For Tories to claim otherwise is rubbish.

Tory budget folly driving care cuts

This week will see the call-in for the Care Home closures that the Conservatives have pushed onto residents at Christmas.

The timing of the planned closures and privatisation stinks and warrants further questionning on Thursday this week about the timing and purpose for the cuts.

This blog would contend that the Tories are cutting these services because they are desperate to find savings in the revenue budget which is now £5.1m over budget.

I asked several questions at last weeks Business Support Overview & Scrutiny about the Conservative maladministration over the budget. The Tories are now £5.1m overspent on revenue (departmental) budgets and have overspent by £2.8m on the capital projects (Bus station / Stoke Crossing / Chatham one-way system).

The fact is the adult services budget is a quick-win in fiscal terms for the Tories and this has been identified for some time.

People may also be interested to see the timing of this decision, especially during Christmas. The Conservatives were well aware of the 'savings' that required in Quarter 2; but have left it until now to put out the consultation. I consider that an absolute disgrace to do this over this period... and whats more this would have been planned.

It is also grossly unethical and ill-timed by those who should know better.

This is not about improvement in services to our residents. It is pure and simple about outsourcing care services to deliver savings of £1m per annum at the expense of the most vulnerable.

Halling Fire Station Threat

Public meeting to oppose Tory cuts to Fire Services in Halling

Local residents and the opposition are right to be concerned by the cuts to Kent Fire & Rescue which could impact the safety of local residents.

Under the Conservative-led government which is supported by local MPs, Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) has to make £12m in cuts over the next three years. It aims to close eight fire stations: Sturry, Matfield, Horton Kirby, Halling, Rusthall, St Margaret’s, Queenborough and Seal.

The Tory-led Government is in denial about the impact of its cuts to fire and rescue services and its impacts and are clearly choosing to ignore the guidance of professionals on the ground.

A clear case is a recent report produced by six of the country’s top fire chiefs covering all metropolitan areas outside London, outlining the potentially dire consequences of further cuts has been dismissed by Government Ministers.

The report warns that further cuts will endanger lives and impair the nation’s ability to respond to major incidents involving terrorism and flooding. The report was ignored.

The Conservatives locally can't have their pie and eat it too.

Voting for the cuts being foisted onto another local service, but then trying to pretend they are nothing to do with the process.

Double standards?

Medway isn't working under Tories

Only the most blind of Conservatives can now ignore the glaringly obvious - that Gideon and the Etonian cabinet of multi-millionares are totally mismanaging the economic recovery.

The last time unemployment stood at this level was under the Major Conservative government. A government that failed Britain with sky high crime, dithering factional govenrment, dodgy scandals and a total lack of leadership. History repeats itself.

Labour went into the General Election in 2010 on an economic argument which has since come to fruition. Labour wanted a slower pace of deficit reduction over a longer cycle because we were clear the recovery had not been secured.

The Tories meanwhile lied to the public over their plans. They were elected and cut the public sector and rose taxes they promised they would not - VAT.

The Etonian arrogance of the Tories who last year claimed last year we were 'out of the danger zone' and that there need not be a rise in unemployment. So today, unemployment increased by 114,000 to 2.57 million in the quarter to August, the worst total since the autumn of 1994, giving a jobless rate of 8.1%, the highest since 1996.

Medway's claimant count rose 142 to 7,120, while in the rest of Kent, an extra 445 people joined the dole queue.

Youth unemployment reached a record high of 991,000, while the numbers claiming Jobseeker's Allowance increased for the seventh month in a row, to 1.6 million, date from the Office of National Statistics has shown.

The male youth unemployment rate (23.6 per cent) is also the highest since 1992. There are now 257,000 young people who have been unemployed for over a year, the highest figure since Dec-Feb 1994. Overall, 867,000 people have been unemployed over a year and 423,000 for more than two years.

Other figures showed a 178,000 slump in employment in the quarter to August - the biggest fall in more than two years - and the largest-ever cut in the number of part-time workers, down by 175,000.The number of people classed as economically inactive increased by 26,000 to 9.35 million, a rate of 23.3%. Taking the inactivity rate and the new jobless figures together, half of 16 to 24-year-olds are now not employed, it was revealed.

Not one Medway Conservative Councillor or MP has apologised for calling it wrong...

With the Tories Britain isn't working. We need a plan B.

O'Brien gone 'Rogue'?

It seems that Councillor Mike O'Brien is on his own and could have gone 'rogue' on his assertions that PCSO numbers are to be cut by more than half.

Evidence for the 'Rogue behaviour' from the traditionally vocal local Tories is evidenced from multiple sources;

Firstly the Medway Conservative website, a traditional link machine to anything the cabinet member has to say, has not deemed it appropriate to copy his press statement, in what could indicate a distancing of the administration on the PCSO accusations.

Add into the equation Mark Reckless MP, who slapped out of his obsession with all things Europe, commented on Radio Kent yesterday morning that he was unable to confirm the statistics being put forward by his own Medway Conservative colleague, and backed up (in the third person) the position of the Kent Police, that any proposals would need to be put out to an appropriate consultation. Instead of mentioning Cllr OBrien he made particular reference to Cllr MacKinley who this blog has postured could be the rival for any leadership bid

The Medway Council press room - known for fawning over hyper-partisan Tories on the top floor of Gun Wharf - has also remain noticeably tight-lipped.

Of course Mike O'Brien could claim he was commenting as Chair of the Medway Safety Partnership - but there website and twitter feed has said absolutely nothing. Given Mike is the Chair of the organisation; its very odd indeed that nothing has been said

The local media have picked up the story because it is clearly concerning, but it is worth pointing out that in addition to the above not one Cabinet colleague or Tory Councillor has backed the Cabinet holder.

Given Mike was being tipped for the leadership job for the Gillingham & Rainham faction the silence from Rochester & Strood is well numbing. Not one Tory Councillor or surrogate has backed the call by Mike OBrien.

Even Red Reh - as he is known by some colleagues in Westminster - has'nt put his head up ... but then again he is too busy spinning (on the cricket pitch that is).

Looks like he is on his own then... and that in itself is a story worth exploring.

Update

Medway Conservatives updated there website a few hours after this post. Must have been caught in the inbox... notice however how they have dropped the reference to the number of officers. Do they think we are mugs?

Police row erupts

Cllr O'Brien attacks Kent Police for Tory driven cuts.

A major war of words is brewing tonight between the Kent Police and the Chair of the Medway Safety Partnership, Councillor Mike O'Brien after he released a press statement claiming the Police are proposing to cut the number of PCSOs by half.

If true, and there is no public information to support (on the face of it) an unprecendented leak by the Chair of the MSP, it has been challenged robustly by those tasked with safeguarding our streets - the Kent Police - who have tonight rubuffed the allegations as false:

In a tweet riposte to Cllr Mike O'Brien the Police made clear that no decisions had been made on PCSO numbers.

Medway Conservatives have a long and discredited history of playing politics with the Police which actually has positioned Medway in a difficut spot. In 2010, the River Ward by-election campaign was mired when Tories brazenly accused Ian Learmonth of triggering the by-election whilst it was actually poor research on selection by the Conservative selection panel.

Medway Conservatives are also in dispute with the Kent Police Federation and the Kent Police Authority and their own colleagues in Kent Conservatives in KCC. All are opposing the blatant politicisation of the elected Police commissioner proposals which were dreamt up by wonkers in CCHQ.

It seems that not only are these facts disputed but the Councillor has failed to be honest about why the Police are reducing front-line officers in the first place. As the Kent Police Federation stated in a supporting tweet we are 'still going to loose 500 cops & 1000 staff'

His Tory government, supported by our ineffective MPs, are directly responsible for cuts to crime fighters across our towns. Criminal cuts to Police budgets which Labour has consistently warned would send the wrong message to criminals from Rainham to Cuxton to the Peninsula villages and must be opposed.

Back our Police against Tory cuts

The Kent Police are fighting back against the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats who are still pursuing Policies to cut Police numbers and the move towards an elected Police commissioner.

Charities targeted by Tories

Depsite the hot air from local Conservatives on Medway charities, voluntary organisations and those people who volunteer the evidence now shows their support is not backed up with financial muscle.

Today, hundreds of charities across the UK had cuts announced. The news is not so good in Medway, where 18 charities face substantive cuts.

These include

• Action for Borstal Community (ABC Project),
• Ashdown Medway Accommodation Trust (AMAT),
• Avante - Step Ahead (Crisis 10),
• Avenues Trust,
• Borden Riding School,
• Casa Support,
• Crime Stoppers, Crossroads,
• Demelza Hospice,
• Home-Start Medway (for children and young people),
• Hope (Kent) Ltd,
• In Touch,
• Kent People's Trust,
• Medway Cyrenians,
• Medway Mediation,
• Orbit Housing Association,
• West Kent Housing,
• Young Lives Foundation.

Sixteen other charities are facing minor cuts totalling £87,116.45.

The worrying thing about the list in Medway, like in other areas where cuts are being made, is that many of the charities affected are those aimed at young people, such as Home-Start Medway, which is based in Gillingham.

It aims to support parents with young children at home and is currently offering support to over 120 families.

The Young Lives Foundation is another of the organisations being hit.

It is a dedicated children's charity providing a range of support services for some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged young people across Kent and Medway.

It tries to give young people a voice in the important decisions that affect their lives, providing long term consistent relationships with adults they can trust, and helping to build self confidence and self esteem.

What these cuts show is that the big society is nothing more than hot air whilst dozens of local charities which support local residents are knee-capped in their pockets by Conservatives, who once again prove they know the cost of everything but the value of nothing.

This is a direct snub to hundreds of local residents who volunteer their services. Today they, and the people they support, felt the cold slap from Cameron and his local MPs; Mark Reckless, Rehman Chisthi and Tracey Crouch

Kent Police Cuts will hit Medway

Another win for Common Sense

After more than 48 hours of pressure on the Conservative MP to set a public position on the cuts to NHS blood services in Rochester we have had a response.

This blog has once again been leading the charge locally and will be backing petitions to safeguard this resource.

I do think however a postponement of the cuts is not really an acceptable position but will be backing all attempts to safeguard the facility, and we will also be working on a petition to fully oppose the cuts to the services. We have been taking this petition to residents doorstep this morning.

The online petition does not include a post code or address option so effectively makes submitting this to the Council difficult. Someone should have advised the independent petitioners this.

The Labour petition which is being met with a positive response on the doorstep will have weight in the Council chamber because it will give address and postcode details

It is a welcome sign that Tories locally are now engaging with this issue because we all need to fight to win to keep this resource for the community.

Cllr's Teresa Murray and Nick Bowler met with dozens of residents this morning on a roaving surgery and we had dozens of signatures from residents in the surrounding area of the clinics being threatened

Teresa Murray acts on Rochester NHS cuts

Looks like the Medway Conservatives are running scared of the campaign to safeguard the Rochester clinics which have been closed with little notice by the Primary Care Trust.

Some might say we have struck a nerve.

With news of substantial NHS cuts being overseen by the Conservative government it comes as no surprise that services are being rationalised.

Despite the public displays of anger on the matter the only public statement from the Conservatives can be found here

The 'independent' petitions, being heavily advertised by the Conservatives, are of course welcome and this blog would urge people to support as many petitions as possible to safeguard these services. Tory suggestions that support for one petition detracts from another are baseless.

To claim that political parties should not be petitioning people also ignores basic democratic principles. Petitions can be submitted by any interest group.

Labour will campaigning hard over the next month to oppose the Conservative funding cuts to the NHS which we believe has led to this decision.

Cllr Teresa Murray is happy to make public her correspondence on the matter with the Primary Care Trust:

Healthletter

Meanwhile, we have had no website statement from the MP on the closure of the clinics in Rochester, despite requests from this blog to try and allow constituents to see that work has/had been carried out.

Much confusion rained last night as a former Conservative indicated the MP opposed the closure whilst another said he was looking for postponement.

A welcome letter has been sent to this blog which indicates our MP is calling for a full postponement of the decision. Given this could be private correspondence, I may not have permission to see or indeed publish this document but am happy to publish in full if given permission.

To get to this stage required much tenacity on the part of this blogger. When pressed on the matter the office aide to Mark Reckless stated that:

'Do you think an MP is going to broadcast every single issue that he's working on?'

This blog then clarified how people were supposed to know what our MPs position was on such a public and pressing issue, if he had not advertised a position;

The reply;

'A simple call to Mark's would have confirmed the matter was in hand.'

A helpful aide then but the public expect better. I work office hours.

Council to cut 750 staff?

Unconfirmed reports tonight from Council insiders that the Tories are looking to cut around 750 people from the Council headcount in a move which will impact front-line services.

Parks, education services, bin services, road resurfacing and services to the elderly will be impacted.

According to insiders, the cuts in staff are currently being managed in an ingenious but quite dubious manner. Given I spend a chunk of my day dealing with employment law, it appears that the Council is going through a series of 30-day 'mini-consultations' under the guise that the headcount being reviewed is beneath a certain size in defined areas.

Sadly an employment tribunal will look very unfavourably at this type of behaviour on appeal. The Council should of course follow the scripted 90 day consultation to the letter and not try and play games on redundancy. Oh well, warning out of the way. Expect a few appeals.

So why, as members of the public, have we not heard about cuts to staff?

After all, it seems other Councils have not had a problem. Kent Council Council is to cut 1500 staff, Hampshire Council to cut 1200 staff, Norfolk 750 staff, Durham 1600 and East Sussex 200 staff.

In these austere times most people accept that we need to live within our means but they would also believe that the rules should be followed, not only in spirit, but to the letter. Given the hollow tributes given by Medway Conservatives to the public servants who have worked for our community for years, it is the least for them to expect a fair and transparent process.

This blog also wonders how many senior Directors of the Council are also included in this restructuring exercise. Whistle-blowers to this blog indicate that despite being a top-to-bottom review it appears senior Directors are not included. More mid-level to bottom then. How convenient?!

Coming from a private sector background it would be remiss of this blog to point out that Managing Director's were the first to take the hit in the banking sector. How odd that in the public sector it appears to be the indians that get the chop whilst the chiefs sit smoking their pipes.

And the Medway Conservatives...?

Councillor Jarrett maybe poor at schmoozing the press but he is also quite transparent politically. He is probably backdating the really harsh front line cuts until after the May local election because he does not want the public to make it an election issue.

Not only a slight-of-hand but atypically dishonest once again.

Ironically it is also likely he will be turfed out at that point as well. His febrile backbenchers and the Rochester & Strood faction are sharpening the knives.

Whoever takes the job after him has therefore been left a poison chalice in every sense. Whether Labour or Conservative.

Ouch!

Medway Council Cut stands at 11.9%

Tonight the public are looking at Tory Councillors and MPs and the monumental failure of them to negotiate a fair settlement for residents.

It has been revealed tonight that the Conservative Government has deceived the public and its own naive Council Group and slammed Medway with an eye-watering 11.9% cut

Rehman Chisthi, Tracy Crouch and Mark Reckless have failed to represent the pressing requirement for Medway to the government. They have failed to fight for Medway citizens and have left the Council base in a worrying position for next May.

Hundreds of thousands of pounds will be cut in Rainham, will be cut in Lordswood, will be cut in Hoo, Cliffe and Halling.

Millions will be cut from schools, from parks, from services to elderly people, from public safety.

Tory candidates in marginal wards now find themselves fighting not only Labour poll leads but the headwinds of their MPs failure to negotiate and fight our corner. Dozens stand on the edge of defeat tonight as the national government falls apart.

The fact is Medway Conservatives have spent years biting the hand that fed them with ever greater grants.

The people expected them to use their influence to reduce the scale of damage to Medway. They elected Conservative Councillors and MPs to fight our corner against over-aggressive cuts.

After years of pious rubbish about 'influence' from Cllr Jarrett, we now have the true extent of his influence with government.

Conservative Ministers have bare-faced deceived the public. They have said earlier this month that the drop in funding resulted in a 3.6 per cent cut in Medway’s spending power – and that no council will see a drop greater than 8.9 per cent.

But Medway Council’s officers have worked through the figures provided and discovered a much larger cut of 11.9 per cent in grant funding from the government.

This is far greater than the average for all councils in England of 9.9 per cent and more than the average for unitary councils outside of London, which is 11.4 per cent.

The new figures, worked out by Medway Council, follow the announcement by the government of all council total formula grants for 2011/12 on 13 December.

This leaves Medway with a £23.5 million funding gap for the 2011/12 financial year – which is how much it will need to save to balance its budget.

The council had predicted a funding gap of £19.5million

Medway Council has been carrying out a great deal of work to see where it can make reductions while protecting its vital front line services such as social care, highways, refuse collection as well as other important and valued areas such as Sure Start.

And the council’s cabinet has now instructed officers to start consultation, where appropriate, on team restructures, which will lead to job cuts.

Directors and Assistant Directors have also been working on an exercise to reduce budgets by 25 per cent over four years and an initiative called ‘Better for Less’, which is looking at how the council carries out its work and where efficiencies can be made, is ongoing.

In addition to this, the council has already announced pay freezes, cuts to jobs last June and is closing its regeneration arm – Medway Renaissance – with a loss of nearly 20 jobs.

In its announcement, the government stated that grants in areas such as transport, skills training and migration will go.

The council will be setting a budget for the new financial year in February and will need to take into account the huge drop in funding it has received.

Cllr Alan Jarrett, Deputy leader and Portfolio Holder for Finance said:

“I find the smoke and mirrors way the government has attempted to make it look like Medway is only losing around four per cent, when in reality it will see cuts of nearly 12 per cent next year, particularly unpalatable.”

So will Councillor Jarrett resign?

Connexion service Cuts

Job service for young will be targeted by Tories

Another day and another article highlighting the targeting of the middle class by the Conservative government.

It now seems that families with young children are being systematically targeted by Conservative tax increases and cuts to services.

The Conservative decision to cut £4.8 million from the budget of Kent's career guidance service Connexions is highly regressive because it targets a service designed to help young people into the world of work and further education.

60 jobs are at risk due to a 19.5 per cent funding reduction.

Medway Conservatives back a government that has led on

- Rise in University tuition fees to £9,000 per annum which will target grammar and comprehensive school pupil alike. Leaving graduate debt of £27,000 before living-cost.

- Cuts to University funding which will compromise excellence in teaching so watering down standards

- Cuts to the Education Maintenance Allowance which help pupils from middle class families to attend further education colleges. Reduction in number of apprenticeships

- One-in-three Primary school pupils failing basic literacy tests with failures to improve education in the area despite a decade of power

- Delays in Academy building projects

- Cuts to Sure Start and pre-school education programmes

- Cuts to free school meals and secondary-language programmes

- Cuts to Medway Youth Services and support projects for young people

- Failure to support the Medway Freedom Pass in favour of the £2.5m Chatham two-way programme

- Gerrymandering of funding into Yellow bus scheme which services safe Conservative areas at the expense of middle class urban families

Only the most blind of Conservative Councillors can justify supporting a government which is systematically destroying educational opportunity for a generation of young people.

Residents in Luton & Wayfield will suffer disproportionately from cuts in education. Not only are local Primary Schools in need of extra support but the cuts in budgets for second language and integration will impact Luton schools who have a diverse catchment. Secondly, 16-18 year olds in the ward are more likely to be recipients of the Educational Maintenance Allowance.

Supporters of the Connexion service, which have an office in Chatham, say the cuts will harm its ability to help the county's youngsters, who they say have been badly let down by the Coalition Government.

The Kent branch of Connexions has regional offices in 11 towns throughout the county and employs more than 300 personal advisers. The services are merged in Kent and Medway so service cuts will hit young people in Medway.

A consultation process has now begun with a view to a 17 per cent reduction in staff numbers, which will be achieved through a phased approach over the next eight months.

The £4.8m reduction – which brings the organisation's budget for the next two years down to about £20m – is significantly more than the £2m cut predicted before the Comprehensive Spending Review was published in October.

"This is another attack by an out-of-touch government that doesn't understand the needs of young people," said 17-year-old Kent Youth County Council chairman Dara Farrell.

"Connexions has had great success in finding employment for young people and in providing them with relevant skills to keep that employment.

"The Government talks about not wanting so many people on benefits but how are they supposed to find work when services like Connexions are being taken away?"

The Real Face of the Cuts