Reacting to the chancellor’s budget today (29 October 2018), Emma Reynolds said:

“The Prime Minister recently said “austerity is over”, but yesterday’s budget confirmed that this is not true.

“People will still be worse off in 2022 compared to 2007 and our public services are at breaking point. The funding for Wolverhampton City Council will continue to be cut, with the money for social care not sufficient for many of our older people to live with dignity.

“Although the extra £160million for counter-terrorism is welcome, there was nothing in the budget for local and neighbourhood policing. We have lost over 2,000 police officers in the West Midlands and violent crime is on the rise. Our Chief Constable recently said that the police “are struggling to deliver a service to the public” and “criminals are well aware of how stretched we are”.

“I am particularly worried about the impact of school cuts on the education and opportunities for young people in Wolverhampton. On Friday I visited Bushbury Hill Primary School, where I was told by headteacher Kay Mason that they will have lost over £600,000 in just three years since 2015, and have lost teachers and teaching staff. The Chancellor announced more additional money for potholes than schools. He seems to think schools only need money for ‘little extras’ but teachers, teaching assisants and avoiding big class sizes are essential to our children’s education.

“I welcome the Budget’s announcements on freezing beer and fuel duties.

“Overall I remain deeply concerned about the impact of this government’s continued austerity on the people of Wolverhampton who are bearing the brunt of the cuts to public services and are not seeing an improvement in their living standards. The government boasts about falling unemployment nationally, but unemployment continues to rise locally and this Budget had no proposals to deal with this.”