Imagine you are a hard-working athlete in great shape, because you've trained hard and have sweated blood and tears for the last few years. Your hard work has meant you've picked up the odd award from your peers, and your fan base has increased as they think you are doing a good job. Then, imagine, you're trackside, gasping for breath with a sweat-soaked T-shirt after yet another hard workout, when someone who is not as well-trained and lean as you tells you you're going to have to try harder. You wouldn't be too happy and might possibly have a few choice words to say to your less fit acquaintances. And this is how local government feels about central government right now, after what Sir Simon Milton has rightly called, the worst settlement in a decade. We feel like we've been told to train even harder, but now, without being able to use proper equipment and facilities. And we feel we've been told this by someone who needs to do more than a little bit of trimming of their own. But never mind what we think. Who is going to suffer the most? It's those who rely on us more than anyone else – the vulnerable. It is going to be virtually impossible to provide a decent standard of care to everyone the Government wants us to, and keep council tax increases low. We've worked hard on becoming more efficient and we need to deliver according to local needs. The trouble is, last week's news confirms we won't have the money to do it. I said in this column a few months ago that a tough settlement would leave us feeling like we might as well give up and get the bus home. There is no doubt, most of us are looking at the timetable. n Richard Ennis is director of resources at Ealing LBC
