[page 1]
The Social services have been bled dry. In three years, capital spending has been cut by 38%. Hospitals, schools and welfare services have been put on the chopping block to finance handouts to big business. * Staff shortages and overcrowding have got worse while teachers, medical staff and local government workers have been thrown on the dole. * Over £94 million has been cut off Scottish housing expenditure by the latest White Paper. Councils continue to dole out fortunes in interest
charges. Direct Labour departments are being ditched. The burden of housing costs is being shifted onto the council tenants to boost the profits of private contractors and finance houses. The result? Soaring rents and the survival of Europe's worst slums. * Transport cuts continue to axe vital community services. Fare increases of over 250% in three years have hit working people's pockets hard. * Instead of supporting those who elected them against the government, as the Clay Cross Councillors did when the Tories were in, Labour councils are first in line to carry through the cuts.