Councils launch cost-cutting exercises
Despite the fact that the UK government has yet to confirm cost-cutting initiatives across the UK, a number of local councils have already taken it upon themselves to make contingency plans. It has been confirmed that some councils have already approached their local population to ask for ideas regarding cost-cutting measures with the starkest realisation yet that we will see billions of pounds wiped off the UK government budget in the coming years.
While some may say that local authorities have "jumped the gun" this is exactly the type of initiative which David Cameron and his coalition partners have been looking for in what became known as the "big society" program. The truth is that by asking local residents the councils will effectively be able to pass the buck if further down the line there are complaints and criticisms of the measures taken. We will no doubt see a number of adventurous initiatives suggested by the public but will we really see any new initiatives put in place?
It will be interesting to see which services the public believe are vital to our everyday lives and which services and which benefits can be scaled back or even terminated.
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