The false economy of cuts in public services Austerity

And George Monbiot was right when he said that cuts to public services cost far more than the money saved (it hurt me when I crashed my bike into a ditch – it taught me the true price of austerity, October 4th).

I am a trustee of a small charity in Kent, Social Justice Networkwhich runs a number of projects, including supporting refugees and their families to settle locally. We recently welcomed a family of 10 (parents and eight children aged 5-16) from another province. The Council did its best to accommodate the family in its area but was unable to do so, despite accepting its duty to do so. As a result of the forced move of approximately 100 miles within 24 hours, the father lost his job and is now subject to maximum benefits. Removing the two-child limit would make this family only marginally better off because they would still face the maximum family benefit.

Organizations including the Department for Work and Pensions, Canterbury City Council and Kent County Council (KCC) worked with us to find schools, healthcare, benefits, food banks and free English lessons for parents, which were essential if they were to find work, settle down and contribute to society. However, they were refused bus tickets by KCC (which said there was no money for it). The parents did not have transportation to get to a local adult education center (funded by KCC) about three miles from their home.

As a result of non-attendance, they were expelled from the course. The family has since been rehoused, but for three months they did not learn English, did not work, and did not settle.

They are one family among thousands, trapped in poverty and isolation by broken policies that are ostensibly about money, but fail to acknowledge the true cost.
Jeremy Cross
Canterbury

George Monbiot’s excellent article on the actual cost of drilling does not mention a single infuriating aspect of the whole unfortunate matter. Road maintenance has been outsourced for decades by council authorities to private contractors on the basis that it looks cheaper on the council’s books, one assumes. But private contractors seem to have little interest in making a good, permanent repair. What they want to do is a “throw and go” cosmetic operation, which deteriorates quickly. This is the basis of their expected income stream – repeat purchases – as it is for any business.

There is no point in blaming contractors, because they are just doing what any company would do when faced with a tendering system that always favors the lowest prices. The council, in turn, is similarly trapped in a system in which it wants to keep council tax as low as possible and economize wherever possible on the cost of services. There is little interest in performing a long-term cost analysis, because it may reveal short-sighted decision making.
Monica Hall
(Farnborough, Hampshire).

Politicians pride themselves on their realism, but they always choose the more expensive option over the cheaper one. In this example, doing nothing while doing something, for fear of overspending money. The same meanness applies to the maximum two-child benefit. The spirit of the Dickensian workhouse is alive and well in contemporary Britain.

The reason is the entrenchment of neoliberalism in mainstream political thought. As for Margaret Thatcher, as for Keir Starmer: there is no alternative. A crumbling Britain is the price worth paying, as lower taxes mean freeing up the entrepreneurial talents of the wealthy. This is in addition to the belief in transferring the state institution into the hands of the most capable private administration. As a citizen of this country, I have yet to see any of the benefits of neoliberalism realized.
Derek Good
Leeds

George Monbiot’s analysis of the negative financial and physical impacts of drilling highlights the frequent failure of governments to appreciate the economic growth benefits of maintaining and improving the country’s transmission lines. There is an old Chinese proverb that every prime minister should mention on the wall of No. 10: “If you want to get rich, build the road first.”
Colin Burke
Cartmel, Cumbria