Ryan Aldred, parent and Socialist Party Plymouth
Community support for struggling families in England has markedly declined over the past 15 years with specialist children’s services dropping by a third, according to data compiled by the charity Barnardo’s. This is no surprise considering 14 years of Tory (and Lib Dem) austerity followed by a so-called ‘Labour’ government that has continued to hammer the poorest and most vulnerable in spectacular fashion during its first year in office.
The devastating figures reveal just how badly public services have been ransacked and destroyed in recent years. Family hubs and children’s centres have dropped by a third in England since 2009, spending on children’s centres has dropped by £1.4 billion between 2010-2024. Access to these services is now a postcode lottery.
In the same period, child poverty levels have risen by 15% to include more than a third of children with greater numbers struggling with mental health issues, more children lacking basic life skills and more entering into the care system.
Yet as Barnardo’s has shown, analysing two parenting programmes in the West Midlands, the results of providing decent services speak for themselves. For every pound spent, benefits worth £3.82 and £2.44 respectively were given back to the public purse as the need for other services was reduced.
We need representatives that will fight to claw back services decimated by the Tories and now Labour. Reform’s DOGE-style ultra-cuts to services will spell disaster and even more misery for working-class families. The Socialist Party, part of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, organises with trade unions, service users and community groups to fight for the services so desperately needed. Councillors can refuse the cuts now, pass budgets that fulfil the needs of the communities they represent and build mass campaigns for the funding from Starmer’s government.
Where will the money come from? Unlike Starmer who is clearly a lackey for the fat cats, we’ll stand up to big business and make the super-rich pay. Is it more important that we have a couple more superyachts partying on down as society breaks down and rots? Or is it more important to provide a future for our children? Capitalism is all for the superyachts, we’re here for socialism and a decent future for our kids.
