Grahame Morris MP condemned a decade of consistent cuts to public services and local government funding, and highlighted the role of trade unions in defending the living standards of working people in this afternoon’s Opposition Day debate on Government management of the economy.

He said, ‘Covid-19 has highlighted the fundamental weaknesses in the UK economy… but these weakness apparent in our economy have been created over the last decade.’

The Easington MP stated that the governing party have ‘systematically undermined our public services.’ He cited the most recent NHS re-organisation which ‘squandered billions of pounds and opened our health service up to privatisation.’ Eight years on, the Government has published a White Paper, paving the way for a new Health and Social Care Bill.

The Easington MP went on to describe the cuts to local authority spending such as in Durham, which has had more than £260 million cut from its budget.

He said, ‘nowhere has been more hard-pressed in the last decade than local government. We now have this Government’s council tax bombshell only weeks away. Instead of helping hard-pressed families in areas like mine, a succession of governments led by the Conservatives have passed on the financial burden for maintaining local services to local taxpayers, through higher council tax.’

Mr Morris concluded, ‘Covid has shown many the realities of Universal Credit, and what happens year on year when ministers quietly cut the strings of our social security safety net…. I”m proud of my trade union affiliations and the role that trade unions have played in defending the living standards of working people.’

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