More on the aftermath of Monday’s Croydon Cabinet meeting which pushed through further huge spending cuts.

In the absence of any response from Cllrs Maria “Exciting” Gatland and Mike “I’m not in this for popularity” Fisher, Inside Croydon brings you reaction from a Labour Shadow Cabinet member, Timothy Godfrey.

“I was ashamed to be a Croydon Councillor on Monday night,” Godfrey has blogged today. “The Tories cut 60 per cent of funding to the voluntary sector in a 30-minute debate that they tried to frame as all being Labour’s fault.”

Godfrey makes an interesting, almost Keynesian point about the value of the voluntary sector to the economy overall. This is something which Prime Minister “Call Me Dave” Cameron, champion of his so-called “Big Society”, is also no doubt aware:

“Saving about £750,000 in a year from voluntary groups really cannot be sensible when these voluntary groups bring in at least £5 for each £1 of grant. That means that £3.75 million of value has been removed from the Croydon economy – much from isolated groups or the elderly.”

Godfrey also points to the £33 million which he says Croydon Council has in its reserves.

“This is a tale of political dogma over public service,” Godfrey says.

There’s sure to be more in the run-up to the next full Council meeting on Monday.

read more here: Timothy Godfrey: Voluntary Sector Cuts.