Testimonies
Uncertainty is hitting everyone in the town
I live in Stafford. 40% of the work in this town is in the Public sector, and this means that many families are having a worrying christmas.
Stafford has always felt like a fairly comfortable town, where people work hard,and are doing OK. Now many of the people who are the backbone of this town feel deeply uncertain about their future.
In my own family, my husband works with Connexions, which we now know will cease to exist in the spring. He does not know if he will have a job within Local authority or not. He has 25 years of really valuable experience, which may be lost to the community. At his age, finding another job, if this is what needs to happen, will not be easy.
I am self employed as a small business person, selling goods to local people. Trading in the run up to Christmas has been noticeably much worse than in previous years, and every customer that I speak to tells me about how nervous they feel about the future. All the traders I have come to know will tell you the same story. Private enterprise depends on the confidence of the public. When people are nervous they will not buy.
My daughter is in 6th form, and she is worrying - more than I want her to - about the future, If she can afford to go to college, if she will be able to get a job.
We are told that the private sector will generate thousands of new jobs to take the place ot those that are being cut. As yet I do not see the evidence of this, and I see no evidence of a town coming together to try to find a solution to its problems.
The fact that there’s a Conservative led council, and a Conservative MP, makes it much harder for people to come together. Those people who are going to suffer as a result of the cuts are too angry to want to work with the people they see as inflicting the problem.
- Posted by: Diana Smith at 11:24am on 20 December 2010
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