Monday, August 15, 2011

Cameron's Public Sector Job Cuts Will Cost Lives and Put Us In Danger!

Cameron, Clegg and Alexander pat Osborne On The Back
After He Announces He Is sacking 500.000
Public Servants

Ever since David Cameron assumed the role of prime minister he has not missed an opportunity to denigrate public sector workers. Right from the start of his premiership he seems to have been on a mission to pit workers from other sectors, against our public sector workers and set out to deliberately demonise public sector workers to such an extent that now they are verbally abused by just about anyone with an axe to grind, or anyone who feels fed up with their lot just appears to irrationally blame public sector workers. However, it wasn't always like this, in 2006, when Cameron was in opposition and he needed peoples votes he once  attacked Labour and accused them of apparently using "public servants as scapegoats". Cameron once said of his own party:

"Anyone working in the public services could easily have heard a pretty negative message from my party: 'there's too many of you, you're lazy and you're inefficient.' This is far from the way I see things."

 Of course just like nearly everything else that Cameron has uttered, this also turned out to be a lie. Another of those "deceptions" that Cameron is so good at where he totally misquotes people and deliberately misleads the public for his own political ends. The one and only message that public service workers have been hearing from Cameron since he came to power is not just "pretty negative", but overwhelmingly negative! The message coming from this government is that public sector workers are "lazy, inefficient" and not worth the money and there are "too many of you" and Cameron has deliberately "scapegoated" them and used these *people* in order to implement his own ideological policies.

There are estimated to be around 500.000 public sector job cuts over the next few years and some people can hardly hide their glee at the prospect of this and this includes the government. When the chancellor George Osborne sat down after giving his budget in which he announced the loss of 500.000 public sector workers, he was cheered to the rafters by Tory and Liberal Democrat MPs who were all cheering. calling out and frantically waving their order papers about to show their satisfaction, they were hardly able to contain their glee at the prospect of so many public servants who would soon be losing their jobs, it is as if the Tories and the Liberal Democrats had forgotten that public servants are actually people with families to support and are responsible for their children's lives and well beings and the fact they would soon become unable to support their families and lets not forget public sector workers pay also greatly supports the economy as a whole, but this just did not seem to resonate. The scene we were treated to in the British parliament was a truly ugly degrading spectacle which took place in our House of Commons, once again under Cameron's watch. Cameron, Nick Clegg and Danny Alexander all leant over and slapped "good old George" on the back. A truly awful sight of Tories and Liberal democrats all cheering the fact that 500,000 people were going to lose their jobs and not giving a damn about the people whose lives they had just literally trashed. (Why are they then surprised at the actions of youths who displayed exactly the same "couldn't give a damn" tendencies in the recent riots? These individuals just took this "couldn't give a damn attitude" to the next level which was physical violence against person and property!)

People who want to see public servants lose their jobs and their pensions should be careful what they wish for. I have asked people to think before about what happens when you call for help and no one comes?


I hope the events of the past week or so clearly demonstrate how much we actually depend on our police and other public sector workers.

When the police were prevented from doing their job because of lack of police numbers it meant they could not safely get the fire service into riot torn areas where peoples homes were being burned down and other major fires swept through affected areas when people badly needed their help they were not in a position to respond.

 During the riots when fire and  looting  spread all over the country people called  for the police - and they did not come - people called for the fire service and they did not come, people called for ambulances and they did not come.There were not enough police on our streets to contain what was happening or to physically protect other emergency services, as a result people lost their lives, their homes, their businesses, their jobs and without a doubt ordinary peoples lives were put in grave danger. people were trapped in burning buildings and were forced to jump out into the arms of riot police.
A traumatised young woman jumps for her life from a burning building
into the arms of  brave passers-by and just a couple of riot police
No Fire Service came To Her Rescue


London has already shed 900 police staff and nationally we are now almost 5000 police officers less than when the Tories came to power. The riots were not brought under control until Met police chiefs cancelled all leave and drafted in 10.000 extra police onto London's streets. This was an appalling situation, what will the situation be like when the cuts become deeper in years 3 and 4?

During those three days and nights of rioting and looting, when the prime minister, David Cameron completely lost control of this country, not only were peoples lives put at risk from the dangers of rioters, the entire country was also put at grave risk from a terrorist attack!

Not forgetting that while all this country's leaders were away sunning themselves on their luxury holidays, the country had lost its two top police officers to resignation over corruption and phone hacking allegations and one of those officers was Deputy Police Commissioner John Yates, who was also in charge of anti-terrorism.

Cameron is refusing to u-turn on the policy that will keep people safe on our streets. Next year police unions are warning that the kind of numbers drafted in to help quash the riots will not be able to be achieved and to make things even more difficult, next year is Olympic year, so this will further drain police numbers. If there is further trouble and God forbid we are the subject of a terrorist attack there is no way our police are going to be able to cope. Cameron and this Tory government are deliberately and negligently placing at risk the lives, well being and livelihoods of every single person in this country and every single person who visits this country is also in danger.

Cameron makes much about "middle and backroom staff" who will be losing their jobs (as if these are not human beings with families and lives to run) however, the stark cold truth is that the *only* reason why  10.000 officers could be brought into the capital was *precisely* because of the work of these so-called "useless" backroom staff, they are the people that came in at a moments notice to arrange and liaise with police forces all over the country for officers to be sent down to London at a few hours notice. The *only* reason that such a  huge number of arrests from the riots could be processed and put through the judicial system so quickly is *precisely* because the back room staff were working their backsides off, working all night and at weekends to process all the arrests and charges and court appearances in emergency courts which are now sitting over weekends and working throughout the night. The backroom staff are the people that arranged all the prison vans, their timings, their pick-ups, their destinations. Once the charged arrived at  court  then other backroom staff took over the process of filing so many people through the judicial system, ensuring that the charged were legally represented, that their papers were in order and in some cases that appropriate adults were there for under age children. Once the charged were convicted whatever sentence they were give was again processed through backroom staff who are the ones that arrange probation, community service and prison places for those given custodial sentences. Once the prisoners reach prison or have been given community service orders, they will once again be dealt with by back room. staff.

The process of those charged going though the judicial system did not just happen because Cameron ordered it to, it happened because of the sheer amount of work that was put in by backroom staff who know their jobs inside and out, these are the unsung heros that organised the entire operation and once these people are gone then just who is going to do their jobs? Officers from the front line? can you imagine what would have happened without these people over the past couple of weeks?

These are the same backroom staff that Cameron wants to sack!

Again we see a total lack of judgement from our prime minister and after all of this  he still wants to get rid of 35.000 police and backroom staff.

What happens when these youth get back to school are we going to ignore them until this festering carbuncle in our towns and cities erupts again with all the force of a volcano? We need to be getting in there with specialist teachers, youth workers, outreach workers, family support officers, early intervention officers, Educational Welfare Officers (EWOs), we need all these people and more, however these are the very people that now many have already lost their jobs due to Cameron's cuts to the funding to local authorities who pay to hire such staff. Some boroughs have been left without EWOs (truant officers). So if concerned parents call their children's teachers up and find there are no teachers, no teaching assistants, no support workers, no early intervention officers to help them handle problems - these people too are public sector workers. this government have cut the funding to youth clubs and up to 100% cuts to domestic violence centres too but that it another issue, although all part of this very complex story.

All these and more besides are the kind of  public sector workers (*people*) that David Cameron has been feverishly working to turn you against.


All the people mentioned above are just some of the public sector workers who have lost their jobs, and others who are facing losing their jobs. When David Cameron, Nick Clegg, George Osborne, Theresa May, Ken Clarke, Boris Johnson mention cutting backroom staff numbers and when they mention funding cuts then these are the people and services that are going, these are the people and services that work away tirelessly behind the scenes to make this country a better safer place - ask yourself where we would have been without them this past couple of weeks!

Suddenly Labour's so-called "profligate" spending on  hiring public sector workers and providing youth workers and services does not look nearly so wasteful after all. In fact it now clearly shows to be absolutely vital.

The Labour government made plenty of mistakes, but never once did they place their holidays before the safety and well being of the people of this country and  while we had a Labour government never did we witness student riots and now the London riots which spread to other parts of the country, resulting in such tragic loss of life and loss of homes, property, businesses and jobs, adding more deprivation to already deprived areas and adding more pressure to already pressurised areas. Never once did a labour government lose control of the streets or the countryside in this country, despite two foot and mouth epidemics, despite avian flu, despite swine flu, despite the worse floods in history - despite the 7/7 terrorist attacks and the global financial recession and the near banking collapse, the labour government remained firmly in control and got this country through some truly terrible times.

Look at the total mess Cameron has created of everything he has touched, from the NHS right through to the economy and now these riots. I also mention that Cameron and the Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, also made a complete cock-up of the swine flu (H1N1 virus) when it swept the country, they were also the cause of loss of life in this country then. I might remind you that during times of other crisis like in Libya, Cameron was also out of the country while our peoples lives were in grave danger.  
Then there was the dabacle of the swine flu outbreak:
Cameron making up With Tuscan waitress he refused to Tip
while his country slipped out of his control and rioters and looters were burning  peoples homes and businesses and tragically while  other people were murdered trying to protect their property
The prime minister, David Cameron, is incompetent and inept and has no judgement whatsoever. To stay on holiday while all this was happening to this country in favour of having publicity stunt pictures taken with Tuscan waitresses he once forgot to tip while hoards of out of control youths attacked our police endangering their lives is totally bizarre. To enjoy a long leisurely relaxed dinner in the Tuscan night with his wife as if he hadn't a care in the world, while the country he is prime minister of was burning amid scenes of total anarchy and looting while he (Cameron) knew he had totally lost control of our country was not just lack of judgement, it was criminally negligent and is a resignation matter.


I totally blame Cameron for the absolute farce and fiasco that he turned our streets into while he holidayed, the lack of policing was entirely his fault this time and it will be entirely his fault next time, only next time with fewer still police and virtually no knowledgeable backroom staff to do the magnificent jobs they do for us unsung and behind the scenes, it will be much, much worse. Cameron's ridiculous knee jerk reactions will not save us, they are already inflaming and already inflamed situation. Those knee-jerk reactions are not designed to help the police and other emergency services do their jobs, they are not designed to help us, they are designed to restore some credibility to his battered premiership, they are purely an ideological reaction to a dangerous situation, which are going to make things much worse.

David Cameron is a grossly inept prime minister who has been shown to be completely out of his depth and has recent events have clearly demonstrated he poses a very real danger to this country. Despite of all the evidence pointing to a complete and utter disaster if Cameron goes ahead and cuts police numbers and backroom staff, he is still insisting on cutting police numbers and staff by some 35.000. Not only do we have to question the breathtaking arrogance and non existent judgement of David Cameron we must also question his sanity!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

David Cameron made this comment on TV earlier

Mr Cameron said it was necessary to start with the issues of family and parenting "if we want to have any hope of mending our broken society".

He said he did not doubt that many of the rioters had no father at home.

In future, he said, he wanted a "family test" applied to all domestic policy.

"If it hurts families, if it undermines commitment, if it tramples over the values that keep people together, or stops families from being together, then we shouldn't do it," he said.

What do you make of that Gracie ?

Gracie Samuels said...

It leaves me utterly infuriated and totally bewildered as to what the hell Cameron thinks he is doing. It clearly shows he has no understanding of this situation at all and that he is dangerously out of his depth. It is OK for Cameron, Clegg, Osborne, May, Johnson and Clarke to go to bed at night unworried, they have police and body guards guarding them and their various different homes.

Cameron keeps going on about families without fathers, well families can be without fathers for many different reasons. Through death, serving members of our forces, fathers abroad working for their families, relationship break-ups, domestic violence etc, many reasons not only through young teenage pregnancies etc. I also would like to say that many of those single parents that found themselves with a child when they very young have made exemplary parents, he simply cannot tar everyone with the same brush, it is totally ridiculous. I had three children by the time I was 23, and I never once claimed benefits, never once allowed my children to run riot, they were brought up by us their parents who loved the bones of them and would do anything for them. Their father was the best of role models, a strong work ethic who would have walked through hot coals to get to work to support his family, how dare Cameron cast aspersions on all young parents?

But the very fact that he is tells us he is hopelessly out of his depth, out of touch and has absolutely zero understanding of how we all live or what makes us tick, he is too far removed from reality to ever make a decent prime minister, he is bloody hopeless and totally hapless. We know this from the appalling way he has treated disabled people and the way he has literally lied to cover up that they have all their figures wrong, yet they still insist on victimising and deomonising disabled people.