Schools are going to have to pay for a lot of support, training and consultancy they currently receive ‘for free’ from local authorities. If they want such services in the future, the only way they will get them is by paying less for teachers, teaching assistants and materials.
The Comprehensive Spending Review, followed up by a letter from the Minister for Housing to local authorities, together herald the near collapse of affordable housing policy in the UK. For the most expensive parts of the country like London, they could herald the slow death of affordable housing altogether.
This week the government unveiled the biggest cuts to public spending in decades. The regressive, unfair cuts (source: IFS), will lead to 500,000 job losses, with services up and down the country severely cut or axed completely. Johann Hari, in The Independent, described Britain as a “colder, crueller country” in the wake of the cuts.
The Express reported today that 75 per cent of the ‘most serious crimes’ were not solved under the labour govt – yet failed to report crime overall fell by 43%.
This morning’s reports that the nuclear submarine HMS Astute has run aground off the Isle of Skye ends a week of dire news for the Royal Navy, which saw its aircraft carrier capability and its maritime air assets slashed in Tuesday’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR).
As Education Minister Michael Gove allegedly raised a glass of wine to celebrate the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR), thousands of the country’s poorest teenagers would have been debating whether to go to college following the Government’s announcement to “replace” Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA).
The latest YouGov poll, commissioned by The Sun newspaper, paints a mixed picture of how the cuts have been received by voters – however the poll data does not represent a conclusive endorsement of the Coalition Government’s, which The Sun would have you believe.
Lecturers accused Nick Clegg of “spinning his way out of trouble” over university funding today, following his u-turn over tuition fees, writes Shamik Das.
Guest writer Adam Short, of the Young Fabians, argues that the ring-fencing of UK aid in the spending review is right and in the country’s interest.
Families are to contribute twice as much as the banks to bringing down the deficit. The finding makes a mockery of George Osborne’s claims on the banks.
