Louise Nousratpour
Tuesday February 8, 2011
The Morning Star
Voluntary sector and trade union speakers warned today that Tory funding cuts delivered under the cover of the "Big Society" are helping to collapse charitable organisations nationwide.
Around 150 representatives from charities and unions rounded on David Cameron's flagship programme at a TUC-organised event in London, with speakers deriding it as a farce worthy of Monty Python.
The Prime Minister has said that he wants to roll back the state and let "an army of volunteers" pick up the slack in the name of empowering communities.
Yet his government is planning to slash funding for the voluntary sector by 40 per cent - or £5bn - which leading charitable groups have warned will lead to the wholesale closure of vital services.
Neil Cleeveley of the National Association for Voluntary and Community Action said charities were being hit by a "double whammy" of squeezed finances and increased demand at a time when local services faced closure.
Community Links chief executive Geraldine Blake added: "We are concerned as to how they will cope if local charities like ours are forced to close the doors of community centres, youth clubs and advice services at exactly the same time that local councils cut services."
National Council for Voluntary Organisations spokeswoman Belinda Pratten said: "By working together, we can send a strong message to government about the scale of the challenges ahead."
Event organisers accused Mr Cameron of pulling the rug from underneath communities and using his "Big Con" idea to drive through unprecedented local cuts.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said the conference was part of ongoing efforts to build "the widest possible coalition" against the cuts, involving unions, charities, community groups and faith organisations.
He called on people from across Britain to join a "march for the alternative" in London on March 26 "to send a clear message to ministers that they must find another way."
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey called on the Commons public administration select committee to investigate the "funding crisis" engulfing UK charities because of government cuts.
He said: "Councils that provide financial assistance for many charities are forcing them to axe jobs and services because of the cutbacks in local authority funding.
"That the Prime Minister's Big Society 'czar' Lord Wei had to reduce his unpaid days from three to two a week because he could not make ends meet has turned the Big Society into a sketch from Monty Python."
Mr McCluskey warned that if Chancellor George Osborne fails to address the crisis facing the sector by his Budget on March 23, "many charities will go to the wall and that will be the death knell of the Big Society."
The NCVO has created a website - www.voluntarysectorcuts.org.uk - aimed at mapping out the scale of cuts and closures in the voluntary sector.
So far more than 210 local charities have reported cuts to their funding, worth £41 million, and the number is rising.
louise@peoples-press.com
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