Caroline Reeves' speech on Guildford Borough Council's 2017 budget

On Wednesday 8th February Guildford Borough council approved their budget for 2017. Liberal Democrat group leader Caroline Reeves gave a speech outlining her concerns about the proposed budget and why the Liberal Democrat councillors were opposing it:

We are lucky that we are not in the same situation as Surrey County Council, and it is only because of the work of our finance team that we are where we are. We have a very ambitious plan ahead but lurking at the back of all of this are the consequences of a very regressive tax system.

Every year we receive less from central government and are expected to do more.

There is great uncertainty around where the cuts at Surrey will fall, we must expect them to impact on areas such as sheltered and supported housing, family support service, community meals and transport. So it is obvious that the very people who will feel the impact are Theresa May's so called 'just about managing' group who clearly will just simply no longer manage. Our Food Banks are already being used more frequently, and very often by families where both parents are in work, the homeless numbers are increasing.

It would seem that we have had no support from the Conservative MPs in Surrey, many of whom have cabinet posts, but who appear to assume that all will be well. Meanwhile the NHS is crumbling, as are our Social Services. We need a national solution to this if we want any of our public services to survive. The longer government continues to cut our budgets and expect more from us, the greater the struggle will be.

The fact that we have no idea of the implications of the cuts from Surrey County council and the ongoing debacle around the dialogue between the County and government, and its impact on us is very concerning. I believe that the Local Government Finance Settlement has been delayed because of the work being done on Brexit and figures will not be announced until March.

I hope that the council leader and his deputy will be making it clear to the Conservative government that our social services are in a perilous state across the country.

It would be irresponsible to agree a budget now when we have no idea what the implications will be of the inevitable cuts which will come down from Surrey and I cannot support this budget.