Lord Rennard was the Lib Dem Chief Executive for six years, one of their top campaign strategists for more than twenty years, and is now Chair of the Big Society Commission.

In an interview with Civil Society magazine, he was asked about the impact of cuts by local authorities:

“There’s a clear problem here, and at the very least, it’s to do with phasing. By making the economies very quickly, a number of local authorities will feel that they have to cope with almost all the redundancy costs which they face in the short-term, rather than being able to capitalise them over a much longer term. And they have their statutory obligations, clearly they feel more pressured to cut from voluntary sector support than they do from some of their core services.

Now some people will argue that we need to try and change the way in which local authorities prioritise so they don’t cut back on the voluntary sector disproportionately. But the best way, in my view, that government nationally could help local authorities in that direction would be to allow for things like more generous capitalisation of redundancies and for the more generous phasing of economies, recognising that economies must be made. If the economies have to be made at a very rapid rate, then it gets very hard to do this.

A number of local authorities would argue very sensibly, that if they had a bit more time, they could work with the voluntary sector, to make sure that some of these key services which nobody wants to lose are actually saved and preserved by the voluntary sector, helped by voluntary sector involvement in the long-run. But if these economies are made too quickly, that simply can’t happen, and there is a danger that things are lost that can’t then be replaced. A very clear danger of that.”

Tory Eric Pickles and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg have been peddling the rather silly conspiracy theory that these sorts of cuts to local community groups are a deliberate, politically motivated decision by Labour-run councils. But as Rennard clearly explains, the problem is caused by central government’s decisions to cut too fast.

I wonder how many Lib Dem candidates standing for elections to the council this year agree with their former Chief Executive and top campaign strategist that their Tory allies got this one wrong and caused unnnecessary suffering, and how many agree instead with Nick Clegg and Eric Pickles?

Reader comments

1. Liberal Conspiracy

   Top Lib Dem Lord attacks Coalition council cuts http://bit.ly/e6dDgd

2. John Symons

   RT @libcon: Top Lib Dem Lord attacks Coalition council cuts http://bit.ly/e6dDgd

3. Tom Griffin

   RT @libcon: Top Lib Dem Lord attacks Coalition council cuts http://bit.ly/e6dDgd

4. Pucci Dellanno

   RT @libcon: Top Lib Dem Lord attacks Coalition council cuts http://bit.ly/e6dDgd

5. Tony Bovaird

   LIb Dem Lord Rennard argues that local govt cuts in UK are being made too fast, reducing potential role of 3rd sector – http://bit.ly/dJ1s4r

6. Don Harrison

   RT @libcon: Top Libdem Lord attacks Coalition council cuts http://bit.ly/e6dDgd

7. blogs of the world

   I wonder how many Lib Dem candidates standing for elections to the council this year agree… http://reduce.li/h8awcs #council