On Thursday night I spend the evening at our local youth theatre, Pegasus, as our son was involved backstage.
On Thursday night I spend the evening at our local youth theatre, Pegasus, as our son was involved backstage. Although he is only 13, he’d been given a hugely responsible job of coordinating all the lights and audio cues. He was understandably very nervous, but his course tutor believed he could do it, ensured he knew how and on the night everything was as smooth as clockwork. Result, one very pleased son, whose confidence has just received an enormous boost.
As always, I enjoyed the performances enormously. The excellent range of dance and drama pieces provided the usual blend of Pegasus humour, politics and talent, with everyone looking like they were having the time of their lives. I am sure all who took part felt a similar glow of pride at the end. Pegasus has that kind of effect on people, and our daughters have also benefited.
But on my way home I found myself feeling sad as I reflected how the massive cuts that Pegasus is facing will threaten this important work. Though the Theatre has enough independent funding to keep going, much of what Pegasus offers is subsidised by Oxfordshire County Council funding. Without it fees will go up, which will be difficult for us but a huge disincentive to families on low incomes. Meanwhile classes set up specifically for young people who are carers, or struggling to engage with school, are most at risk. In other words, the kids that need Pegasus most, may not be able to access such courses in future.
I noted back in November, that further cuts to local government would hit every aspect of society. The cuts Pegasus is facing are part of whole tranche of terrible reductions that make up Oxfordshire County Council’s proposed budget for the next four years. After years of cuts that have hit libraries, learning disabilities, older people’s youth and homelessness services, this round will go further. If the budget is ratified on 16 February, it will affect rural bus services, children’s centres, support for carers, road gritting, youth and community services and elderly day centres. Even Ian Hudspeth, the Leader of Oxfordshire County Council admits the cuts will have a ‘real impact on people and communities’.
So today, I joined a local march organised by Save Oxfordshire Children’s Campaign to protest at the budget. Although, the march was small, I was impressed by the passion and commitment of people who had come together to argue against all the cuts, whoever they affected.
There was an open mike and I was hugely grateful to have the opportunity to point out, somewhat emotionally, that sick and disabled people continue to bear the brunt of austerity, which is killing people every day. I also expressed my anger at David Cameron’s hypocrisy in objecting to cuts that his policies have created in his own backyard, and noted that the responsibility for this budget ultimately lies with him.
Others were similarly outraged and emotional.
One speaker described how the end of subsidies to rural bus services means that many villages will have no public transport. Four thousand people in the Wychwood villages will no longer be able to get to Witney without a car. Many of these villagers are elderly people who rely on the bus to maintain their friendships, and cannot afford to move. Their social networks will be greatly diminished by this cut, leading to isolation, a poorer quality of life and a risk of a deterioriation in health that will mean more people requiring social care services that are already seriously underfunded..
One woman explained that Children’s Centres provide vital support to a wide range of parents from diverse backgrounds, without stigmatising people from particular backgrounds. Whilst the march organiser spoke movingly about how her local Children’s Centre helped her escape from the partner who was abusing her. There are many such stories listed on the campaign’s website that demonstrate the vital service such centres offer.
Others made the link with Council cuts and threats to the NHS, the dispute over junior doctors’ contracts and cuts to nursing bursaries, as they noted the importance of us all standing in solidarity with each other. Both Green and Labour Councillors made it clear they would be proposing amendments to the budget that would try and prevent some of the worst cuts going through.
What struck me about today was the sense of unity among all these different groups, and the commitment to support each other and fight cuts together. A common theme running through the morning was that cutting preventative services is a false economy as it creates crises that are more expensive to fix, and how cuts are damaging people’s quality of life in many different ways. What also struck me was that the wider and deeper the cuts go, the more they effect everybody in society, and the harder they become to defend.
David Cameron must be aware of this or he wouldn’t have written to Ian Hudspeth back in the autumn asking him to reconsider. And he can’t fail to be aware of the concern it is causing in his own family, with his mother and aunt (who was at the march) signing the petition to save Children’s Centres. The recent news that £300 million has been given to Conservative Councils expressing disquiet against austerity, suggests the Prime Minister is becoming somewhat rattled by these concerns.
So we should take heart from this, and keep pushing on. Because, the more of us stand up, not just in Oxfordshire, but right across the country, the harder we are to ignore.
As Frodo says in the Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien, ‘They cannot conquer for ever‘. We won’t let them.
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© Virginia Moffatt. Virginia Moffatt is Chief Operating Officer of Ekklesia. Prior to this she worked for Oxfordshire County Council as Quality and Contracts Manager for social care.