It is clearly a tactic of the City’s ruling Conservative Councillors to blame their proposed cuts on central government.  Councillor Royston Smith’s recent “In My View” was the latest example.  They want to give the idea that Southampton doesn’t do well in the support it gets from central government because “Labour has diverted the money up north.”

So let’s take a look at the facts.  First of all, there has been an above inflation increase in the amount of money given to local authorities in each of the 10 years Labour has been in power.  This compares with a below inflation grant for the last three years of the last Conservative Government.  Southampton received £135 million in 1997/8 and £248 million in 2006/7 (including the direct funding of schools).

There is a group of local authorities which are generally agreed to be comparable to Southampton based on measures such as population size and the amount of deprivation.  The ones which are unitary authorities are Bristol, Derby and Portsmouth.  The grant per head of population for each of these last year was Bristol (£349), Derby (£379) and Portsmouth (£409).  Southampton received £396.  Royston Smith chose to cite Leicester as his example (which received £537).  I doubt that he is seriously suggesting that the overall level of deprivation in Southampton matches that of Leicester.  I suspect he only chose Leicester as an example because it received the highest amount per head in England (outside London).   To show that this is not a simple north-south bias, Stockton on Tees received £349 per head and Darlington £322.

There are certainly pockets of deprivation in Southampton and so it is something of an irony that the Conservatives, in their sham concern for the poorest, propose cuts that would hit them hardest.

As the Labour Government introduces nationwide free bus travel for the over sixties, Southampton’s Conservative Council will be cutting the number of buses they (and the rest of us) can use.  And, having cut the buses, the Conservatives are raising the car parking charges – something they have fought against when they were in opposition.  Perhaps they don’t want people to work or to shop in Southampton at all?

I don’t have the space here to list all of the cuts proposed.  But they include cuts in school meals, childcare, the end of free swimming for under 7s and the end of family support for behaviour problems.  There will be no more Neighbourhood Partnerships.  There will be increased charges for museums and a cut in the hours at Cobbett Road library.  Planning applications won’t be advertised.  Leisure centres will be closed at weekends - the very times families want to use them.

These cuts are not being dictated by central government.  They are being implemented by the local Conservative councillors.