Lib Dems attack youth service cutbacks
February 21, 2005 12:00 AM
Figures released in parliament have shown that Enfield had the lowest spending on youth services in London after Tory cutbacks. Liberal Democrat campaigner Dr Iarla Kilbane-Dawe attacked the cuts, saying: "Children in Enfield have been really let down and Edmonton's families will suffer. The Tories cut £2.5 million from the youth services budget last year and the local Labour MPs have done nothing about it. This will lead to more kids sleeping rough on the streets, more drug abuse, more teenage pregnancies and more petty crime."
The Youth service provision figures show that in 2002/3 Enfield came at the bottom of the youth services spending league in London, spending only £40 per child. Neighbouring Waltham Forest spent £105 and some boroughs spend more than £400 per year on each child. This money goes directly to prevent child abuse, teenage pregnancy, child homelessness, child drug abuse and criminality.
Iarla said: "This really is a disgrace. The Tories bang on about problems caused by young people all the time, but when it comes to doing something about it they cut the services that stop the problems. And Tony Blair's placemen Stephen Twigg and Andy Love have just stood by and let this happen as if young people in Edmonton don't matter."
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