Decimation of public services in Cornwall

Cornwall’s public services are being decimated by a centralised, metropolitan government who believe that living in rural areas costs less than in a city. Cornwall traditionally has had low-spending public services and its people suffer from low wages, high house prices and cost of living. Cornwall has been historically underfunded by central government and current cuts to local government are higher than central government. Cornwall Council has to cut £196million over 4 years to balance the budget and deal with a yearly reduction in central government funding. The resulting cuts mean that austerity is hitting not just the poorest but most working people. To protect Cornish services we need to reverse the Labour-Conservative-LibDem privatisation agenda so that public funding can support our hard working front-line workers rather than going into the pockets of large companies and their shareholders. A Cornish Assembly could manage a devolved health service and take back in house services from arms-length companies and quangos. Devolution of decision-making and tax-raising powers will help save money and improve services and Cornwall needs to be given the same significant say over everything from health services to public transport as they do in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.