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Austerity is hitting Labour areas hardest, new research shows

TORY austerity is hitting Labour-controlled areas in the north and inner-city London the hardest while richer Conservative-controlled suburbs are protected, new Labour Party research reveals.

Labour council areas are set to see a cut over five times that of the south-east’s Home Counties by 2020.

The most deprived areas of the country are being hit particularly hard, with nine in 10 of them having seen their spending power per household cut by almost three times the national average of £254.

All the top 10 councils set to see the biggest cuts to household spending power over the decade are Labour-controlled, while six out of 10 of the councils to receive the best settlement are Conservative-controlled.

Labour-run Liverpool has lost £942.25 per household, while household spending power in the Tory borough of Tonbridge and Malling in Kent has fallen by just 6p.

In the London Labour boroughs of Hackney and Newham, household spending power has fallen by £1,432.03 and £1,356.83 respectively, while in Tory-controlled Surrey the figure is 19p.

Average cuts in overall council spending paint the same picture –£539 per household in Labour areas, against £120 in Tory areas.

Exposing the huge differences in the impact of austerity is a main plank in the launch of Labour’s manifesto today for local government elections on May 2.

The manifesto is being launched in Stoke by Labour Party chairman and Wansbeck MP Ian Lavery.

The ex-miner and former president of the NUM said: “Local government and the vital public services they provide have been hollowed out by savage Tory cuts that have hit the poorest hardest. 

“Decades of neglect combined with nine years of austerity have led to rising crime, high street decline and the loss of key services.

“The Tories’ cuts to schools, the police and services such as social care, homelessness prevention and children’s services are putting family prosperity and Britain’s future at risk.

“Labour will rebuild our country with investment in services and communities so they can thrive once again, instead of more of the same failed austerity and cuts with the Tories.

“We need to elect as many Labour councillors as possible on May 2 to send a message to this government that real change is needed and austerity must end.”

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