Edinburgh residents want to persuade the Council that this year’s budget will have a bad effect on services and job. There will be a lobby of the Council outside the City Chambers from 8.30 am until 9.45am on Thursday 12 February followed by deputations to explain the damage the £22m of planned cuts will cause.
‘We are afraid the Council proposals could mean rapidly increasing poverty and inequality in Edinburgh,’, says one Northfield resident. ‘In 2012 our Council, the Coalition of the Labour Party and Scottish National Party, promised it would work to reduce poverty, inequality and deprivation and improve amenities and services. However the proposed changes could mean elderly and disabled people being forced to pay more for care and housing support for homeless people could be cut by 15%.
The cuts that are being made are not inevitable. This is a deliberate policy choice. We want our councillors to keep the pledge they made to us when they took office. This means finding alternatives to food banks and poverty. It’s important that Edinburgh is a city which cares for all of its residents and workers and a place that provides high quality care for those who need it. Our representatives have the power to stop the trend towards a two-tier city. We want them to use it.’
