Labour's candidate for Reading West, Naz Sarkar, has ridiculed the vision for the voluntary sector painted by David Cameron at his meeting at the Madejski Stadium last night, saying it just doesn't match with what the Tories do on the ground.
"It is Labour Reading that has kept the faith the voluntary sector now for over 20 years," he says, "providing consistent funding, operating a strong local Compact, and working with voluntary groups on a whole range of fronts: support for the elderly, for people with mental health problems, for children and young people, and many more. With that backing, Reading has one of the strongest and healthiest voluntary sectors in the region and, for its size, the country, playing a huge part in the life of our town."
"By contrast," he says, "Tory West Berkshire cut funding to Community Action West Berkshire, which in fact had to fold, and to other groups. They have shown no commitment to maintaining a flourishing voluntary sector, and in fact many people from the West Berkshire part of Reading West constituency rely on voluntary groups funded by Reading!
"All this Tory talk of boosting the voluntary sector," Mr Sarkar concludes, "is not for real, it never has been. It is just giving themselves an excuse to cut community care and other public services.
"If I had been allowed to attend Mr Cameron's meeting, which I wasn't, I would have asked him whether he supported the decision of West Berkshire's Conservative Council no longer to guarantee care in the community even for those in critical need, Cabinet member Joe Mooney saying that in future people will have to have greater need even than that! I have a great respect for Age Concern, but I don't think it is their role to support people in critical need, people with life-threatening conditions and so on. But the Tories I think would like to comfort themselves that they can. That's one of the dividing lines between us, and an important one."
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