Laura Price

Oxford Mail:

Labour Oxfordshire county councillor 

I wasn't shocked. I knew that these cuts were coming. This Government – when it was in coalition and again now – is following policies that are making the wrong people suffer.

It feels that it’s going further than just austerity. It’s ideological weakening of services and support and leaving people to fend for themselves.

David Cameron has often said “we’re all in it together” and he has a vision for one nation – but this flies in the face of that.

It shows people aren’t in it together. As the economy recovers, people at the top are finding their feet again. But it’s an uphill struggle for the rest of society.

It’s really shocking. It’s austerity falling on the wrong people.

We’ve got a particular problem in Oxford because the cost of living and housing is so high.

The cuts on child tax credit and housing benefit will have a real impact in Oxford. And the impact it will have on child poverty concerns me most.

When you hit families like this, you hit everybody and affect our next generation.

Already families in Oxford are struggling and support from child tax credit or housing benefit is often the only thing keeping them going.

Hitting those people and hitting that demographic is going to have massive consequences.

We have a responsibility to our children to help them live happy and productive lives. If you take away these lifelines that help them to survive then you take away the opportunities for a lot of people.

I would also like the cuts to stop hitting local government and attacking the frontline services that Oxfordshire County Council provides.

These services are also essential to families.

Without these services and support, people can have drastically different experiences of life just because they are born in a particular area or on a particular estate.

When you hit the wrong people those divisions just open up.

That’s completely wrong. We should use the money we have to ensure people get equality in their start in life.

We are using our voice to try to highlight the impact of the cuts and the way they affect people’s lives. On the county council, the Conservatives have to work in coalition and only have a small working majority on these budgetary matters.

So we try to highlight things and suggest alternatives wherever we can. But without having control over government funding it’s difficult.

We’re out talking to people all year round in Oxfordshire and we’re listening to people’s views in our surgeries.

It informs our decision making and we try to relay our decisions back to the people we have met.

It’s about knowing your community and knowing how these budget cuts are affecting the community.

We don’t want Oxfordshire to become an even more divided county with haves and have nots.