Next Gen News

workers in the public sector must fight to protect services, as well as to resist the coalition encourages them to act like turkeys voting for Christmas

There's little doubt that the spending cuts announced this week of 25% across most government departments are going to have a hugely detrimental effect on Britain's public services: it's obvious that such swingeing cuts cannot possibly be achieved without a direct impact on frontline services and on the public sector's ability to deliver those services.

And yet, in a strange twist, the public sector workers are now asked to identify themselves where they think these cuts should come. It's almost as though, much like turkeys voting for Christmas, the government expects those whose jobs are on the line to suddenly turn around and offer themselves up to the axe-man voluntarily.

The letters that David Cameron and Nick Clegg have sent out "asking staff to help find 'fair and responsible' cuts" are, of course, nothing more than a cynical ploy

Well, my message to public sector workers would be, don't do it. Do not collude with a government that is intent on destroying public services, and do not be fooled for one minute into thinking that if you can persuade them to focus cuts in an area far away from your own, they won't be coming for your department and your job next. Because trust me, they will.

Despite their protestations to the contrary, it was clear from the start that the coalition government had no intention of penalising the bankers for the state of the economy or, indeed, of ensuring that the cost of putting things right would be borne by those who could most afford to pay. This week's emergency budget has simply confirmed that the doom-mongers among us were right all along. So public sector workers are now to be punished for the profligacy of the private sector, and those who are most in need of support and services are going to end up being those least able to access them. Anyone who thought that the Lib Dems would prove to be a civilising influence on the Tories must now be wondering where on earth it all went so horribly wrong.

Of course, public sector workers know exactly where the waste is in their services: but they also know the futility of raising them as areas of concern. It's not frontline workers, after all, who are earning massive bonuses at the taxpayers' expense, and nor is it frontline workers who get to determine which ridiculously expensive consultancy firms to commission to do "business process re-engineering" or whatever other management non-jobbery those at the top manufacture out of their blue-sky thinking. But frontline workers also know that they're always going to be the first ones in the firing line when the cuts start to bite, and that whatever happens, it certainly won't be the chief executives and their ilk who are made to feel the pinch.

As a taxpayer as well as someone who's worked in public services, I'm well aware of how my local taxes have been squandered over the years. Like many people, I don't begrudge a penny that I've contributed towards public sector pension schemes, and I'm more than happy to help pay for much needed local services like schools, refuse collection or care schemes for the elderly or infirm.

I do, however, begrudge every penny that's been wasted on outrageous PFI projects like the Norfolk and Norwich hospital that saw venture capitalists fleecing local taxpayers here out of tens of millions of pounds, and I also begrudge the amount of our money that's been wasted on Norwich's bid to become a unitary authority: a bid that £2m-plus down the line has now come to nothing. I also begrudge my local council losing millions in bad investments, and I begrudge every penny that has been spent on the outsourcing or market testing of any public service.

But I also know that these are the areas that Cameron and Clegg don't want to hear about. I know that these are not the type of cuts this government wants to make. So, rather than waste my time responding to the government's call for suggestions, I will instead be preparing to fight to defend our public services. And I'd urge everyone else to do the same.