SCHOOLS, buses, hospitals and GPs are under threat this year, according to Jill Rawling, the Labour candidate for Woking in the General Election.
She explains: “Surrey Country Council have identified a £43 million shortfall in funding from Government to provide sufficient school places from September, meaning there is no guarantee of a place for every child.”
Ms Rawling is particularly concerned about the lack of plans for new primary schools at the Moor Lane and Kingsmoor Park developments.
“Surrey residents pay more in taxes than in any other area outside London, and our local MPs should be lobbying for further Government funding to avoid putting children’s futures at risk,” she explained, before turning her attention to transport services.
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Fighting privatisation of the NHS is high on Ms Rawling’s agenda during her election campaign. She argues that Conservative ‘small-state’ ideology is ‘starving the NHS of funding’, leading to creeping privatisation.
She said: “Fifty per cent of all contracts in the past two years have been awarded to private firms, including a £1 billion contract to run GP support services.
“There are longer waiting times to see a GP, and hospitals are at breaking point. “If re-elected, the Conservatives threaten to shrink state spending to unprecedented levels, harking back to the 1930s. The low-wage economy aimed at helping business has succeeded only in making the working poor poorer and driving down the Government’s own tax receipts.
“The result is we’re still a long way from eliminating the deficit. Even increases in council tax won’t be enough to fill the gap. Further punitive cuts will result in closure of libraries, inadequate school funding, and slashed services.
“We need a more balanced, higher-wage economy that would result in higher tax receipts to reduce the deficit. Better services need a better managed economy that works for everyone.”