Theresa May, whose ‘words about austerity coming to an end are nothing but pretence’

• AS Labour councillors, elected to represent the people of Camden, it is with great sadness, but, unfortunately, little surprise, that we see the UN felt it necessary to send its special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights to the UK.

Little surprise, given that last week we took part in a full council debate dedicated to rough sleeping – an all-too-visible sign of austerity.

Indeed, the rapporteur’s devastating report found that Tory, and Lib Dem, austerity policies inflicted on the country have led to “great misery” for the many.

It opens by remarking that this is the fifth largest economy in the world with many areas of great wealth, making it all the more unjust that so many people today are living in poverty.

The report reflects our own experience as Labour councillors working with residents and community groups on the front line in these difficult times.

The Trust for London reports 35 per cent of children in Camden are living in poverty, while our own council estimates show that the roll-out of Universal Credit (UC) will see one in four low-income households here made worse off as a result.

We were pleased, in a sense, that the report’s author, Professor Philip Alston, recognised the terrible effects of cuts to councils; cuts of nearly half our budget here in Camden since the coalition government took power in 2010, and at a time of rising costs and pressures.

His report exposes what too few have yet realised: that Theresa May’s words about austerity coming to an end are nothing but pretence.

It does this by identifying the forthcoming so-called “Fair Funding review”, and warns that this “could lead to even more negative policies affecting people living in poverty”.

In Camden the government is set to inflict a further £40million of cuts. The “review” is likely to see this Conservative government issue deep cuts on top of what we have suffered in Camden already.

Given the urgent situation, we are calling on the government to:

• urgently invest the £40million needed to maintain our current services in Camden;

• guarantee no more cuts to council funding;

• properly fund our children’s and adult services that are under pressure from a growing and aging population;

• boost funding for all our state schools to ensure that they have the budgets they need;

• provide funding to help us reduce council tax for our poorest residents;

• urgently review UC and its impact on the most vulnerable.

We hope citizens across Camden join with us to defend our public services and reverse the slide into poverty suffered by too many.

CAMDEN LABOUR GROUP OF COUNCILLORS