The Cuts - Can You Fight Back?

Episode image for The Cuts - Can You Fight Back?

Duration: 29 minutes

The Election's over but now what's going to happen to your local library, swimming pool, bus service or old people's home? What will happen to services in your area in the future?

Panorama looks at the fight to save frontline services as councils across the country tighten their budgets. We meet the people who've taken to the streets to protest at the cuts. We talk to those who've decided to just run the services for themselves.

No-one wants the axe to fall in their area but it has to fall somewhere.

Reporter Shelley Jofre investigates.

  • Is £230K too much for council boss?

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    Essex County Council need to make £240m in savings over the next three years and as Chief Executive of the council Joanna Killian is the person who has to decide where the axe will fall.

    Here Panorama's Shelley Jofre asks whether responsibility for those tough decisions means she is worth her £230,000 annual salary.

  • Communities in Britain bracing for deep spending cuts

    Panorama catches up with a handful of grassroots protests that have already begun to fight back against councils trying to trim their budgets.

    Read more about the protests

  • Council cuts - the fight back map

    Panorama's interactive video map details the UK's battlegrounds against looming council service cuts.

    Explore the video map

  • Council cutbacks 'risk discontent'

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    Tony Travers, a local government expert tells Panorama that wide reaching cuts to public services could bring seasons of discontent to Britain.

  • Your comments

    Read a selection of your comments on the programme

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Credits

Presenter
Jeremy Vine
Reporter
Shelley Jofre
Producer
Catherine Bennett
Producer
Richard Grange

Broadcasts

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