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Brexit Britain unable to afford basic public services

No more lollipop ladies, close paddling pools and turning off streetlights: How budget cutting BCP Council proposes to save millions

This will be coming to your area in one shape or another.  A few items below, with more in the pipeline as they still have a £12m gap. 

No America trade deal. Still, I was reading, a possibility of an India deal next year, which will fix everything. 

Community Safety Accreditation Scheme (Save £270,000) – They aim to remove community safety officers from Poole Town Centre, Christchurch Town Centre and Boscombe.

Monitoring CCTV (Save £49,000) – Reduce live monitoring of the cameras by 15-30 per cent and to seek support from partner agencies to fund the service. This could mean cameras will no longer be watched by staff at off-peak times.
.
Switching off street lighting (Save £68,000) - Turn off streetlights after midnight to 6am on quieter residential roads within the Poole area.

School Crossing Patrol (Save £12,000) - Remove school crossing patrols from locations that have existing crossing facilities and remove school crossing patrols from locations that, following a survey, do not meet the threshold for a patrol.

https://www.dorset.live/news/dorset-news/bcp-council-savings-budget-cuts...

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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192 comments

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marmotte27 | 1 week ago
2 likes
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David9694 | 1 week ago
4 likes

closer to home, a "nothing to see here" article saying ships are going around the Cape because of the Red Sea goings-on and we're about to further fuck things up for ourselves at Dover (I never knew how much stuff came through there - Tory minister).

 I'd also urge readers to follow the Private Eye public health column - what a shitstorm the nation's health is through to 2040 not helped by all of the above. 

Supermarkets battle to keep shelves full amid Red Sea disruption

There are fears some supplies will be disrup[ted because of the military operations

https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/supermarkets-battle-ke...

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jaymack replied to David9694 | 1 week ago
3 likes

Stark warnings indeed from Private Eye. The simple message seems to be get fit before 2040 or die on a waiting list. I'll probably manage to do both of those things.

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mattw | 2 weeks ago
0 likes

Care to explain what a local Council lead by Lib Dems and Independents running itself into the ground has to do with Brexit?

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David9694 replied to mattw | 2 weeks ago
4 likes

The de-funding of public services because the economy has shrunk, as predicted.  

No, wait it's all to do with demographics the ageing population - if that is true then don't we need the strongest possible economy to provide for us? 

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Rich_cb replied to David9694 | 2 weeks ago
2 likes

The economy hasn't shrunk since Brexit.

How much bigger would the economy realistically be if Brexit hadn't happened?

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David9694 replied to Rich_cb | 2 weeks ago
7 likes

So the money we do make, has it all gone to Michelle Mone is something?

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Rich_cb replied to David9694 | 2 weeks ago
2 likes

It's gone on increased spending on public services.

Government spending as a proportion of GDP is nearing record peacetime highs if not already above them.

It's not as if there's been a significant demographic shift or anything...

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Ratfink replied to Rich_cb | 1 week ago
2 likes

That is cumulative gdp though not the size of the economy a more realistic graph is this.

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Rich_cb replied to Ratfink | 2 weeks ago
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The graphs represent the same data.

Yours is just looking at a wider timeline and only indexed to 2019.

The actual data points are identical.

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chrisonabike replied to Rich_cb | 2 weeks ago
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I think Ratfink's maybe clearer (long-term trends and all).  Of course I wouldn't come around here saying "it's not just Brexit" (justifying either a positive or negative view of it) but for whatever reasons there appears to be a bit of a plateau post-Covid.  Probably a case of "too early to say" though (like the effect of the French Revolution...)

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Rich_cb replied to chrisonabike | 1 week ago
3 likes

The problem with ratfink's graph is that by choosing a far longer timescale the relatively small changes since 2016 are hard to differentiate.

The take home point is that, when compared to other similarly sized EU economies, our economic growth post Brexit has been entirely unremarkable.

The real question is what are the USA and Canada doing differently to Europe?

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chrisonabike replied to Rich_cb | 1 week ago
4 likes

Rich_cb wrote:

The problem with ratfink's graph is that by choosing a far longer timescale the relatively small changes since 2016 are hard to differentiate.

...or puts things in perspective relative to "events" (e.g. Covid)...

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Ratfink replied to Rich_cb | 1 week ago
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If you go onto the ONS site you can change the dates to any date range for GDP for some reason if you save the image it only gives you that full range.Despite the chart you posted saying source ONS, i can find no mention of cumulative GDP on that site at all?

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Rich_cb replied to Ratfink | 1 week ago
2 likes

Cumulative just means how much it has increased in total. Referenced back to a particular point. It's the same data you posted.

Eg
Year 1: 10% growth
Year 2: 10% growth

Cumulative 21%.

On your graph the reference year would be 100.
Year 1 would be 110.
Year 2 would be 121.

It's just two different ways of presenting the same data.

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Ratfink replied to Rich_cb | 1 week ago
0 likes

Yes, i know that, it seems a skewed way of presenting information to me especially when comparing to other countries for example the 2016 date takes advantage of the fact that despite the referendum nothing really changed and the second date takes advantage of the covid drop and looks inflated due to the bounce back from a low point,If you produced the same thing using 2001 when we actually left the single market it would look completely different,That's the time to start comparing other countries.It still doesn't take away the fact that yes you are right the economy hasn't shrunk since brexit whenever you start 2016 or 2021.Personally i think 2001 is the date to start looking whichever way it goes.

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Rich_cb replied to Ratfink | 1 week ago
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Nothing changed legally in 2016 but the economic disruption certainly began.

Many companies paused investment etc until they knew what form, if any, Brexit would take.

Despite this our economic growth during that period was on par with similar economies within the EU.

The problem with using 2021 is that COVID restrictions caused absolute mayhem with the data so any data point take during that period will be less reliable. Using a pre COVID point makes sense IMO.

I like the cumulative data. It is more intuitive in my opinion.

Nevertheless the main point is that however you present the data the economy has indeed grown, as you said, and has done so in a wholly unremarkable way for a major European economy during that period of time.

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David9694 replied to Rich_cb | 1 week ago
4 likes

And what news of the India deal? 

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Rich_cb replied to David9694 | 1 week ago
0 likes

Still progressing apparently. No confident assurances just yet though.

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Ratfink replied to Rich_cb | 1 week ago
0 likes

I'll stick with the 2001 date as all countries had covid and it'll even out over time,Not because it looks worse at the moment time will tell.

.

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open_roads replied to David9694 | 1 week ago
2 likes

The "de-funding" of public services is so acute that the NHS headcount has increased more than 200,000 FTEs in the last 4 years. 

And as reported in the Times last week:

"The number of patients being admitted for routine or emergency care by the NHS is no higher than in 2019 despite 16% more doctors, 15% more nurses and £20B in additional real terms funding"

[Some] Public services aren't working* because of pish poor leadership and the complete lack of focus on productivity and removing waste.

Imagine adding the equivalent headcount of the entire British armed forces and actually doing less than before.
 

* some are doing a great job by using digital to transfer how they work and where the work gets done. HMPO is a stand out example of this.

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David9694 | 2 weeks ago
1 like

Council tax bills could rise by ten per cent as Somerset Council seeks to avoid bankruptcy

More than £35m of savings could be made on top

https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/council-tax-bills-coul...

here's the list: 

Abolishing the council-run CCTV services across Somerset town centres (£652,000)
Increasing car parking charges with inflation (£400,000)
Closing some libraries by 2026 (£380,000)
Closing all public toilets (£301,000)
Restrict recycling sites to Somerset residents by introducing a permit system (£235,000)
Review supported accommodation for vulnerable residents to ensure the providers deliver value for money (£200,000)
Increasing the cost of using the Lifeline service (£195,000)
Keeping the Octagon Theatre closed until the new business case is approved (£174,000)
Installing no new play equipment until mid-2025 (£168,000)
Closing the Yeovil Recreation Centre (£165,000)
Cutting funding for grass cutting and gully clearing (£150,000)
Scrap four new staff to support children with special needs (£132,000)
Ending ongoing subsidy to the Brewhouse Theatre in Taunton
Ending school crossing patrols (£41,000)
Ceasing to lock Blenheim Gardens in Minehead, Wellington Country Park in Wellingtonand Vivary Park in Taunton at night (£15,000)

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hawkinspeter | 3 weeks ago
3 likes

The Tories are acting suspiciously about their wine reserves - first they propose having pints of wine and now they're delaying telling us how much wine they drank during lockdown (presumably trying to delay until the upcoming general election)

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/dec/29/uk-ministers-asked-to-explain-fourth-delay-to-covid-wine-cellar-report

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chrisonabike replied to hawkinspeter | 3 weeks ago
3 likes

It's a state secret!  Everyone knows Putin has been stockpiling wine - we don't want to let him know how quick we'll run dry or he might exploit the wine gap.

This explains the undercover operation by Special Forces to supply wine to Downing Street during Covid in a suitcase.

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ktache | 3 weeks ago
9 likes

Pints of wine in cans.
You know it makes sense.

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Rendel Harris replied to ktache | 3 weeks ago
8 likes

ktache wrote:

Pints of wine in cans. You know it makes sense.

Stops any of that "you can always put the cap back on the bottle" nonsense!

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chrisonabike replied to Rendel Harris | 3 weeks ago
2 likes

I can see Al Murray's Pub Landlord promoting a British pint of British wine in a British Toby jug!

Or perhaps Lord Toby Jug himself?

Would a Ken Livingstoby jug would be most appropriate for many here?  Something for everyone though - this pottery has many political figures covered.

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chrisonabike | 4 weeks ago
0 likes

Pardonnez-moi! Zut alors! No more Delors!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67830106

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Bigfoz | 4 weeks ago
4 likes

Ah yes, pint bottles of wine. 

Let's see: Bottled largely in the EU, or FOR the EU market, so bottling subject to the EU regs on measures (the regs we seem to be thumbing our noses at). So how many bottlers are going to bottle up a special size for the UK with associated tooling / bottle costs? Or will we buy it in std measures and then pour it into smaller bottles here? Yet another one of those Brexit benefit" stories, that while it may be true, is not very likely. Yes it's possible, but who's going to do it outside of maybe 3 wine growers in Kent.

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Hirsute replied to Bigfoz | 4 weeks ago
5 likes

They would not do it either - new machines, bottles, labels, processes and storage.
Complete distraction from the issues and to appease the 1.3% and telegraph readers.

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