“By 7 votes (all Conservative) to 6 (2 Liberal Democrats, 2 Labour, 1 Conservative and Independent, Claire Wright), Devon County Council’s Health Scrutiny Committee today sealed the fate of the beds in the two hospitals (and Okehampton) by voting not to refer the closure of beds to the Secretary of State for Health.”
Tory majority sacrifices Seaton and Honiton hospitals at Devon Health Scrutiny
Tory voters – this is totally down to you.
“Last week Justine Greening fudged her own figures – and challenged ours.
Following her announcement, she dared us to update the numbers on schoolcuts.org.uk
But by deliberately announcing an incomplete school funding formula, Justine has made it impossible to do a school-by-school calculation.
The Department for Education is withholding the final school funding formula until September.
Without the full picture, we don’t have enough information to show the real impact of the latest announcement on your school.
As teachers we know that statistics can be used to obscure the truth or to reveal it.
That’s why we will never release numbers until we are sure they are right – and it’s why we must keep scrutinising the Government’s numbers too.
In her school funding announcement, Justine Greening claimed there’s “additional investment” for schools. But the Chancellor hasn’t agreed any new money.
We know that to cover the shortfall in school spending, we need much more than what’s been promised.
And until Philip Hammond announces extra funding for the education budget from the Treasury, we are ultimately looking at a critical cut in school spending.
This is not a win. We can’t allow the Department for Education to pull the wool over the eyes of parents and teachers.
The Government will be expecting us to fall for their trick and back down.
This summer is a test of our resolve. As MPs head home to their constituencies, we must keep challenging them.
Our campaign is already being felt across all rungs of Parliament.
We can’t stop now. Are you in?
Andrew Baisley
School Cuts Campaign”
“…Conclusions
The UK’s core executive once worked smoothly. It has clearly degenerated fast in the 21st century. Westminster and Whitehall retain some core strengths, especially a weight of tradition that regularly produces better performance under pressure, reasonably integrated action on homeland security for citizens, and some ability to securely ride out crises. Yet elite conventional wisdoms, which dwelt on a supposed ‘Rolls Royce’ machine, are never heard now – after six years of unprecedented cutbacks in running costs across Whitehall; political mistakes and poor planning over Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq; and the unexpected loss of the Brexit referendum. Now the looming threat of leaving the EU on poor economic terms under a ‘hard Brexit’ strategy seems to cap a very tarnished recent record.
The clouds in the form of recurring ‘policy disasters’ and ‘fiascos’ are also gathering. Both the Conservative and Labour party elites and leaderships seem disinclined to learn the right lessons from past mistakes, or to take steps to foster more transparent, deliberative and well-considered decision-making at the heart of government. Like the Bourbon monarchs, the fear might be that they have ‘learnt nothing and forgotten nothing’.”
East Devon Watch 