PLANNED TORY CUTS THREATEN OXFORDSHIRE

News that Oxfordshire's economy has experienced low economic growth in the past five years raises a serious question over Tory plans nationally to start cutting the budget deficit immediately if they are elected in May. The Oxfordshire Economic Assessment prepared for the County Council says that the county experienced low economic growth compared to the rest of the South East. The improvement which has occurred was due mainly to growth in public sector, which is now being hit by budget constraints.

Public sector growth is likely to fall further in the future so government action nationally will be essential to sustain the weak recovery. The fragile state of the economy means that drastic cuts proposed by the Conservatives for this year would put jobs at risk in Oxfordshire. Today, unemployment figures for the county showed a welcome fall in the jobless total of 300 in February but there are still over 9,000 people out of work across the county.

The economic recovery is proving slow and uncertain and any drastic curbs on government spending will have a major impact across Britain. The news released today about Oxfordshire's economy and unemployment figures show that our county has far to go to secure a successful future for residents and businesses here. A Tory government would threaten the recovery here.

Liberal Democrats recognise the need to address the deficit, which is why we have put forward £15bn of specific savings for this year to start to address the deficit immediately. This is in stark contrast to the Tories, who have said that they want to make deep cuts now without saying what they would cut.

COUNCIL FIRE CUTS THREATEN LIVES IN THE COUNTY

Liberal Democrats in south east Oxfordshire have backed the protest against County Council cuts to local fire services which could threaten lives across the area. Fire fighters from Abingdon and Didcot will protest against proposed cuts to their service outside County Hall on Tuesday.

The County cabinet will meet on Tuesday 16th March to discuss changes to fire cover in the county which would mean that villages in south Oxfordshire would only have cover from a retained crew at evenings and weekends. This would result in a longer wait for a crew to arrive at emergencies. The proposed cuts will mean that a fire engine may take 4 minutes longer to get to a fire in many parts of south east Oxfordshire, which could be the difference between life and death.

Henley Liberal Democrat Parliamentary spokesman Andy Crick said: “The Council may say that people across south Oxfordshire will be safe without this full-time fire cover but then the people who built the Titanic said it was unsinkable. Many villages in our area are remote and residents need to know that if the worst happens they will have help as quickly as possible. These proposals from the County Council simply don't stack up and they must be opposed.

“Since they were elected in June 2009, County Tories have slashed budgets with no apparent regard for key services. It seems highly likely that the election result would have been very different if the Tories had revealed the full extent of the planned cuts before June but they chose not to. If this is what Tories in Oxfordshire are capable of it gives a chilling hint at what a Conservative government might do if elected nationally. We must be grateful that that risk is receding.”