WBC Youth Service Cut Exposed in Birmingham (David Rendel)

WBC Youth Service Cut Exposed in Birmingham

March 15, 2010 10:13 AM

Homeless youth The two posts cut from the Youth Service in the recent WBC budget came in from some sharp criticism in Birmingham on Saturday.

Speaking in a debate on the difficulties facing young people today at the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference in Birmingham's International Convention Centre, David Rendel, the party's parliamentary spokesperson in Newbury, said,

"This year the Conservatives on West Berkshire Council have cut two posts from our youth service. This is in spite of the fact that more people in local surveys say that facilities for young people are in need of improvement than say that about any other service.

"The cut was a shameful neglect of the needs of young people.

"I am proud to say that the Liberal Democrats tried to amend the budget, to put the money for the youth service back in. Sadly we don't have a majority on the Council, so we were unsuccessful. But we shall continue to press them hard on this issue".

Mr Rendel went on to talk about the many problems which have been created by his generation and which they were now trying to pass on unresolved. These included huge piles of nuclear waste, unaffordable house prices, student debt due to tuition fees, pension obligations and above all pollution and global warming. He apologized to the youth of today for his generation's selfishness in allowing these problems to grow unchecked, but told the conference that there was some hope.

To the Liberal Democrats fairness includes fairness between generations. So the Liberal Democrats have the policies to tackle all these problems in the years ahead.