Councillors' Open Letter: End Austerity in Local Government

If you are a serving councillor in local government in the UK, join us and sign this open letter. Add your name in the comments.

As local Labour, Green and Lib Dem councillors we have been elected to represent our communities and to provide services that keep our citizens and our streets and our buildings safe.

The Conservative government has cut our funding for the past seven years and we have, reluctantly, made the necessary savings in order to pass balanced budgets as required by law.

It is our moral duty as councillors to ensure we do all we can to prevent any more suffering. Our country and our citizens cannot bear it.

Enough is enough.

At present, a further £3bn cuts are now due to local government. We cannot guarantee that these cuts will not impact on the safety of our citizens.

The Conservative government no longer has the moral authority to impose these cuts on its citizens, or to expect local councils to carry out this work on its behalf.

Whatever it takes, austerity must now be stopped.  It is an ideology that has been imposed on the country, it has failed to achieve its main aim of reducing the deficit, and it has left in its wake too many stories of personal suffering.

We therefore call on the government to halt the planned cuts to local government funding, and to work with us to find ways to provide local councils with the finances they need to keep our people safe.