David Cameron faces charges of hypocrisy after he wrote to the leader of Oxfordshire County Council, Mr Ian Hudspeth, protesting about cuts being made to frontline public services.
The letter, written in September but leaked to the Oxford Mail in the last few days, expressed disappointment about council plans to cut funding for services such as libraries and elderly day centres, suggesting back-office savings and shared service solutions should be investigated instead.
Mr Hudspeth replied with a six-page document rebutting each of the points made, pointing out how extensive cuts had already been made in these areas and arguing that, given budget constraints, the council was left with little choice.
In his letter, the Prime Minister wrote, “I was disappointed at the long list of suggestions floated to make significant cuts to frontline services. I would have hoped that Oxfordshire would instead be following the best practice of Conservative councils from across the country in making back-office savings and protecting the frontline.”
In his reply, Mr Hudspeth pointed out, “Our significant savings over recent years have included taking out as much from the back-office as possible”, and claimed, “Our revenue support grant funding has fallen by almost 50 per cent in the first half of this decade…Other funding streams have not kept pace with this, particularly in real terms.”
Mr Hudspeth, a representative of the Conservatives since 1999, also questioned the factual accuracy in parts of Cameron’s letter. In response to the PM’s description of the cuts to government grants for Oxfordshire as a “slight fall”, Mr Hudspeth wrote, “I cannot accept your description of a drop in funding of £72m or 37 per cent as a ‘slight fall’.”
In another part of the letter, referring to Cameron’s comment that, “Your briefing note suggested that £204m had been taken out of the budget since 2010”, Mr Hudspeth appears to state that the PM misunderstood the statistics, writing, “I cannot emphasise enough that £204m is not a cumulative figure…cumulative savings since 2010/11 are in fact £626m.”
A spokeswoman for Downing Street said, “There is still significant scope for sensible savings across local government to be made by back office consolidation, disposing of surplus property and joining up our local public services; we will be discussing with Oxfordshire how this can be taken forward to help protect frontline services.”
Nonetheless, there are now widespread questions over how far the PM comprehends the extent of the cuts his government has mandated. John McDonnell, Shadow Chancellor, joked, “I’m backing David Cameron on this one. He is absolutely right that his chancellor’s cuts to local government are seriously damaging our communities and have to be opposed. I welcome the Prime Minister as another Tory MP joining our campaign against George Osborne’s cuts.”
Cameron’s subsequent offer of a meeting with his Downing Street policy unit has led to Labour council leaders around the country inundating the PM with requests for the same treatment and serious accusations of an abuse of ministerial privileges, favouring his own constituency’s local council.
Local Oxfordshire figures have joined in criticisms of Cameron’s apparent lack of understanding about Oxfordshire Council’s difficulties, which includes his own Witney constituency. Leader of the Liberal Democrats at Oxfordshire Council, Richard Webber, commented, “It is staggering that the Prime Minister knows so little of the impact of his government’s cuts in his own backyard”.
Meanwhile, leader of Oxford City Council Bob Price, told Cherwell, “It is particularly surprising that an Oxfordshire MP who gets regular briefing from his fellow County Tories should have put his name to such a dismissive and insouciant letter.”
Labour Councillor Liz Brighouse went so far as to suggest that the PM was relying on dubious information from civil servants, to the detriment of those affected by local cuts, commenting, “Our budget is being spent on the most vulnerable people. But Mr Cameron has not bothered to speak to anyone here and has just relied on his people in Whitehall to tell him what is going on.”
Among some Oxford students, this news has been met with similar derision. The Oxford University Labour Club told Cherwell, “David Cameron’s letter to the Conservative leader of Oxfordshire County Council shows just how out of touch he is with the delivery of public services both in Oxford and across the country. Unfortunately, in Oxfordshire, cuts have had a harmful impact on many frontline services, such as the provision of social care and community projects.
“What I can say is that these letters are part of an ongoing discussion with government about how we can protect frontline services while doing our bit in Oxfordshire to tackle the national budget deficit – a government policy that I support. To do this, we are having to make some very difficult decisions, which is why we are consulting the public on all the options.”
Neither Hudspeth nor the Oxford University Conservative Association responded to Cherwell’s request for comment.
