This weekend I will be in London for the TUC Young Members Conference – on which I shall blog in the coming days – but in addition to this conference I’m thrilled to have been invited to support the ‘No Cuts for Kids’ campaign being organised by two mums, Louise and Ruth.
This important campaign is working to highlight the impact cuts are having on children and, quite rightly, loudly asking our Tory-led Government to not make cuts that affect kids. The campaign – which has been organising a petition against real-term cuts to Sure Start centres – has been gaining momentum and will be at David Cameron’s front door this Sunday to present a petition to the Prime Minister.
Whilst not a parent myself, I already see the impact cuts are having on children in my role as the Chair of Governors at my local primary school and so I was proud to accept an invitation from Louise to support their campaign and join them at No10 on this Mothering Sunday.
As the petition says:
“It’s been widely recognised for some time that support and intervention in the early years of a child’s life has a huge impact. It could be the difference between a child getting on at school or turning to drugs; overcoming a disability and becoming a full member of society as opposed to sitting on the sidelines and relying on benefits; or a happy home environment as opposed to one where mum and dad feel depressed and out of control.
Think about the goals of this government. To secure a healthy economic future and an end to ‘benefit culture’. And think about what these cuts to children’s services will achieve. Think about the impact on your children, and children you know. It is precisely because it makes zero economic, and social, sense that we need your help in securing a major rethink across our councils.”
There is no question (in my mind at least) that unnecessary public spending cuts are driving inequality amongst our generation of tomorrow and I hope that the Government listens to this important message from people right across the country and takes action – be that reversing the cuts or, at the very least, taking the time to consider the impact of cuts on our children and taking decisions in that light.
So please do visit www.nocutsforkids.org and sign the petition - you only have a few days left to do so and every name will help make a difference.
You can also follow the campaign on twitter @NoCutsForKids and on Facebook by searching “No Cuts for Kids”
