A leading Brighton politician has warned that the spending cuts announced by the government today could cost up to 4,000 jobs in Brighton and Hove.
Councillor Bill Randall, convenor of the Green Party group on Brighton and Hove City Council, criticised the “speed and severity” of the cuts set out by the Chancellor George Osborne.
After the comprehensive spending review statement by the Chancellor, Councillor Randall said: “We all expected the worst for those employed in the public sector and the services they provide.
“But today’s review shows that the Conservative-Lib Dem government is determined to cut services not inequality.
“The national deficit is large and should be responsibly managed.
“Yet the speed and severity of the coalition’s proposals seem not only counterintuitive but malicious.
“Throwing 500,000 people out of work in such a short period of time means fewer income tax receipts, more people on benefits and less money being spent in the wider economy.
“Forcing councils to cut back has a similar ripple effect on businesses and community organisations in the local private sector, where it’s expected that there will be another half a million job losses across the country as a result.
“In Brighton and Hove, that amounts to approximately another 4,000 on top of the 62,000 people already out of work.
“There are other ways to save the money.”
Councillor Randall said that the government should
- look for opportunities to invest in jobs which would pay for themselves many times over
- reform the tax system, including clamping down on tax avoidance which costs the taxpayer much more than benefit fraud
- make efficiency savings and some justifiable cutbacks in dialogue with those who provide and those who use services
He added: “The fact that the coalition government has chosen to dismiss real alternatives reveals their underlying drive to slash the public sector and local services rather than sort out the nation’s finances.”
The Greens have based their estimate of job losses on reports from the Office for Budget Responsibility and the Confederation of British Industry.
The extrapolated figures for Brighton and Hove are based on an averaged 10 per cent reduction in the local public sector workforce of about 19,000. This would amount to about 1,900 job losses.
It also includes an averaged 2 per cent reduction in the local private sector workforce of about 100,000, amounting to about 2,000 job losses.
