Tory cuts hit Lincs families who need most help...

Families in Lincolnshire caring for children with spina bifida and hydrocephalus have been dealt a devastating blow by local Conservatives.

The Tories who run Lincolnshire County Council have decided to axe funding the Association for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus.

Next week the group, which supports 155 people and their families in Lincolnshire, will lose its £17,000 annual grant.

In the scheme of things, and given LCC's whopping budget, £17k does not sound like a lot of money to provide support to 155 families. It's a little over £100 per family. No doubt the costs of a local authority social worker offering similar support would be considerably more than that.

Having served as a county councillor for eight years until last year, I could certainly suggest a few more effective ways of saving a few bob of taxpayers money...

Why is it that those who need our help most always seem to suffer first when it comes to 'efficiency savings'...?

In any case, as this letter from the Association in the Stamford Mercury suggests, the cost-cutting may be a false economy. In the end it will be social services who have to pick up the pieces when it all goes wrong for the families helped by the Association...

By his own admission, David Cameron is desperate to start taking an axe to public spending, promising, in his own words, an age of austerityif he gets the keys to Downing Street.

Pulling the plug on vital public services that millions of people rely on would, in my view, damage our social fabric. It seems a bit rich trying to get elected by telling us (wrongly!) that Britain is Broken, and at the same time planning to slash public services.

Cameron's axe would also put the fragile economic recovery of our nation at risk as we come out of the worst world downturn in half a century.

Sadly, 155 families in Lincolnshire are getting an early taste of what life under a Conservative Government would be like for millions.

Same Old Nasty Tories eh?