'The nasty party can keep its nasty hands off the Big Lottery Fund'

As a former NHS commissioner for the voluntary sector, and until my election the chair of one of the largest BME mental health VCS organisation in my constituency of Bradford West, I'm very pleased to be leading a Westminster Hall debate around the issue of "Funding cuts within the voluntary and community sector". 

Today's debate, which is close to my heart, isn't just about highlighting the government’s failure to understanding the blatant obvious fact that these cuts, against the backdrop of increased usage of VCS  services are wrong, but to also spell out the realities of the impact on this most vulnerable in our society.

Just a few weeks ago I spoke at a "celebration of achievements event" of a local women's refuge, the Blenheim Project, which closed due to the funding cuts, that's 18 bed spaces of the total of 55 lost across our city as a whole. That means at any one time potentially 55 women and their children not receiving the support which in some cases  is literally the difference between life and death. Unfortunately this isn't the first organisation to close and won't be the last. Only a few months ago another very well used and valued project called Mannigham Mills Community Association also closed leaving a vacuum in the local community. These are a couple of examples which are local to me but this picture is being repeated across the country in the name of austerity, suffocating organisations already struggling with cuts and which are sometimes a real lifeline to its service users.

The systemic failures, from reneging on its commitment to the local "Compact" agreements - to ousting smaller service providers by awarding larger block contracts, right through to not providing a level playing field for smaller organisations to claim rates relief and tax rebates is indicative of this government being out of touch with reality within our communities. It is clear to me that our "small society" clearly doesn't fair into our Prime Minister's "Big Society" !

And now we hear that despite the agreement of the big lottery fund remaining "from the people for the people", the Chancellor is planning to take a slice of around £300 million to subsidise his cuts in the arts, heritage and sports. My message to him is clear and echoes that of many....This is not your money Mr Osborne, the nasty party can keep its nasty hands off it!