{"id":7770,"date":"2016-02-16T15:22:40","date_gmt":"2016-02-16T15:22:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=7770"},"modified":"2016-02-19T14:48:29","modified_gmt":"2016-02-19T14:48:29","slug":"unite-protests-over-big-mistake-childrens-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=7770","title":{"rendered":"Protests over \u00e2\u20ac\u0098big mistake\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 children\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

The Oxfordshire community was out in full force today (February 16) at picket lines to demonstrate against cuts in a bid to save children\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s centres and other council services as Oxfordshire county council aims for \u00c2\u014169m in savings.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite members working in early intervention staged a 24-hour walkout today as the county council threatened to shut down 44 children\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s centres and 7 early intervention hubs, as well as scrap mobile libraries and reduce funding for the arts, homeless support, road gritting, elderly day services and support for carers.<\/p>\n

 
\nProtestors, including Unite members and members of the local community \u00e2\u20ac\u201c recently supported by prime minister David Cameron\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mum and aunt \u00e2\u20ac\u201c gathered outside county hall this morning, after which they attended a packed budget meeting where councillors continue to deliberate on the planned cuts.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe prime minister\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mother Mary Cameron last week signed a petition to save children\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s centres from the savage cuts, with Cameron\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s aunt Clare describing the cuts as a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098big mistake\u00e2\u20ac\u2122. The Oxford Mail<\/em> reported that she was in attendance at the protest today.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe prime minister, whose constituency Witney will be affected by the cuts to services, wrote to the Tory council leader Ian Hudspeth in September to complain about \u00e2\u20ac\u0098counterproductive cuts\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 to frontline services.<\/p>\n

 
\nHypocrisy<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

But Unite regional officer Chris Gray said the letter revealed Cameron\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hypocrisy.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIn writing that letter, David Cameron has exposed the two-faced nature of his stance, by urging austerity from central government on the one hand, and then taking the council leader to task for implementing his government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own policies,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe prime minister and his Tory council leader would do well to remember that our members work with some of the county\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most vulnerable families,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Gray added. The one to one support they provide on issues from domestic abuse to help with self-harm and drug and alcohol misuse is vital to turning lives around.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nBudget negotiations continued this afternoon after the contentious meeting was adjourned multiple times and council leaders continued discussions in private to try to reach a solution with new proposals.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe Oxford Mail<\/em> noted that this was the first time since 1997 that a meeting was adjourned, when, senior figures said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bthey adjourned about 10 times and the debate went on to 2am”.<\/p>\n

 
\nReports are now emerging of a potential budget compromise reached between the Labour and Conservative groups.<\/p>\n

 
\nConflict<\/strong><\/em>
\nConflict over the initial Tory budget proposals reached a high point when independent councillor Lynda Atkins suddenly quit her alliance with Conservatives yesterday (February 15) and said she would be voting with the Labour group instead.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI have thought long and hard about this and looked at all the alternative proposals that were submitted on Friday over the weekend,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said.<\/p>\n

 
\n“It seems to me that the Labour plan offers more hope to people in Oxfordshire than those put forward by the Conservatives.”<\/p>\n

 
\nUnites members working in early intervention voted by 83 per cent in favour of the strike action that took place today which will continue until midnight tonight.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bToday hundreds of protesters have joined our members to speak out against Oxfordshire wrecking its children\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s service and to the council\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s damaging cuts,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Gray. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bNow we need our councillors to listen and vote \u00e2\u20ac\u0098no\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 to these brutal cuts.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bDay in and day out our members work with young people, children and their families living in poverty, fighting addiction or loneliness,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhere will they go when the council pulls the plug on the vital services they rely on?<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe council\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plans to provide only statutory levels of care are insufficient and short-sighted,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Gray went on to say. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bProblems left to escalate will become more complex and entrenched, and therefore expensive. By helping young people, children and their families early, these services protect them from more costly interventions like mental health and NHS services, and prison.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe are urging the council not to turn its back on the county\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s young people, not now, not ever. Even the prime minister\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own mother understands the damage these cuts will inflict on future generations.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOur message is simple; vote \u00e2\u20ac\u0098no\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 to these brutal cuts and find an alternative solution.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nStay tuned on UNITElive for the result after today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s budget meeting.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Oxfordshire community was out in full force today (February 16) at picket lines to demonstrate against cuts in a bid to save children\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s centres and other council services as Oxfordshire county council aims for \u00c2\u014169m in savings.   Unite members working in early intervention staged a 24-hour walkout today as the county council threatened […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7771,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[461,415,485],"wps_subtitle":"Cameron's aunt joins mum in campaign support","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7770"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7770"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7804,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7770\/revisions\/7804"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}