Council notes that:

(1)         Bradford Council’s services are vital for our community, especially for our most vulnerable citizens; yet these services are now at risk as a result of years of unprecedented cuts in financial support for local councils imposed by the Coalition and Conservative governments;

(2)         Since 2010, central government support for Council services in Bradford has been cut by Conservative ministers (backed by Conservative MPs) by approximately £180 million;

(3)         The Conservative government plans further cuts in support for Bradford Council services totalling over £80 million by 2020, by which time the Revenue Support Grant for our District will be reduced to zero;

(4)         Changes in government policy introduced by the Conservatives since 2010 have increased the annual cost of Council services in Bradford – notably Social Care - by tens of millions of pounds;

(5)         Conservative government cuts in support for Bradford Council are (a) mirrored by the determination of Conservative ministers to cut welfare support for the poorest in our society and to limit health and social care spending in real terms despite the growing crisis in these sectors, and (b) have been accompanied by tax cuts that have primarily benefitted the better off and contributed to the growing inequality in British society;

(6)         The Leader of Bradford Council estimates that, by 2020, our Council will have “half the spending power we had in 2010”, and has warned that “we are fast approaching a tipping point beyond which we will see valued services stop and those that remain scaled back” in circumstances where the future of the Council “will be financially unsustainable without radical changes and reductions in spending on local services”;

(7)         A report published by the Centre for Local Economic Strategies in 2014 concluded that Bradford Council’s limited “ability to bring in extra income due to a low tax base…makes it hard for City of Bradford MDC to mitigate what are already particularly disproportionate impacts”; that our area “suffers from deep deprivation and major inequalities”; that the Council is “in a very tough position” and the “major cuts to core budgets will result in greater health, economic and social inequalities within the district”.

(8)         A report published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in 2015 assessed the impact of the ongoing Conservative cuts to local government budgets and acknowledged that Councils are having to centralise services “into multi-purpose hubs” in order to “both preserve services and increase efficiency”;

(9)         The 2010 Conservative Party general election manifesto stated that “nothing underlines the powerlessness that many communities feel more than the loss of essential services”, and the 2015 Conservative Party general election manifesto promised to “work with councillors to deliver high quality, value for money services”;

(10)      The Conservative-led Shipley Area Committee made the decision to close Shipley’s toilets despite opposition from the local ward councillors (who suggested an alternative strategy that would have allowed the toilets to remain open).

This Council therefore:

(1)         Commends our officers for their efforts to maintain and defend the public services they provide and thanks them for their hard work and dedication;

(2)         Resolves to do our best to maintain essential local public services in the face of unprecedented cuts in central government funding enacted by a Conservative Party elected into office in May 2015 with support from just 24.3% of all registered voters.