Lib Dem Candidate's outrage at school drug crisis claim
A LEADING Lib Dem has hit back at Labour claims that education cuts will lead to a drug crisis in Swansea.
Labour candidate for Swansea West Geraint Davies said the fall in cash being handed out to city schools could lead to a rise in crime and drug use.
Mr Davies said Swansea Council's decision to cut education funding by £5 million — which head teachers say will lead to more than 100 teachers losing their jobs — "will have a damaging knock-on effect on drug abuse, crime and community cohesion in Swansea."
Now, city-based AM Peter Black has hit back, labelling Mr Davies's view as "naive" and "misleading".
The Lib Dem AM and city councillor said: "The assertion by the Labour candidate for Swansea West that cuts in school funding will lead to an increase in Swansea's drug problem is not just naive but remarkably misleading.
"I think it is worth pointing out that Swansea is not the only council which has had to reduce school education budgets in the face of the economic downturn and inadequate central government funding. Other Welsh councils have done the same, including Labour- run authorities."
Mr Black also said that Labour should accept the blame for education funding across Wales being lower than England.
Blame
He said: "The fact is that funding per pupil in Wales is £527 less per pupil in Labour/Plaid-run Wales than it is over the border. If that under funding has led to more drug taking as Mr Davies asserts then he needs to look to his own party to apportion blame.
Mr Black added: "The real scandal is that under Labour rule the best way to get treatment for drug addiction is to commit a crime. At that point the courts will put an offending addict straight onto a rehabilitation programme.
"If the Labour candidate is really concerned about the increase in drug addiction in Swansea he would tackle his own party's ministers, as I have done, and ask them to do something about it."
Mr Davies said: "Yes, in Wales the Assembly spends less per pupil on education than England but in Swansea the Lib Dems were already spending £300 less per pupil than neighbouring Neath Port Talbot and Camarthenshire before cutting a further £5.6 million that will mean up to 10 teachers lost in some schools
"The link between schools spending and drug abuse has been established in an all Wales Health Survey which found strong links between drug use, poor school qualifications, truant and school exclusion. Yes, I have pressed for more drug rehabilitation but the main focus should be investing in schools to reduce the problem in the first place."
alex.brown@swwmedia.co.uk
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by Heather, Mumbles
Thursday, May 06 2010, 12:43PM
“Richard, Swansea central; I appreciate your comment and you are right in what you say, however, we, with our technical knowledge, would know where the atomic bomb would have been launched from before it would hit us and we would retaliate before that bomb exploded: if they take us down then they would rapidly follow.
This topic is psychology at its best; that is what will, hopefully, deter a nuclear attack on this country.
Psychological warfare. That's why we need Trident.”
by Heather, Mumbles
Wednesday, May 05 2010, 8:07PM
“meirion, Swansea; you are rather strange aren't you? Bit creepy!”
by meirion, Swansea
Wednesday, May 05 2010, 7:48PM
“Heather. That sould read what new labour (Blair) Did to this country was unforgivable.”
by Anon, Neath
Wednesday, May 05 2010, 1:40PM
“Throwing more money at schools is not going to affect the drug problem one bit. Not rewarding scum for breeding with housing and benefits, and cutting down the number of kids coming from these broken backgrounds, would save money, less drugs, less crime and less social workers. Can't afford them? Don't have them.”
by Heather, Mumbles
Wednesday, May 05 2010, 11:53AM
“slumdog trust millionaire, landore; your children's education has suffered (and will continue to suffer) due to illegal/legal immigration. But you are very fortunate when compared to places like London/Leed/Bradford etc.
This was predicted 10/15 years ago, it's just that the people of Swansea don't understand the issues involved. But they soon will....it's spreading.
If Clegg gets in (GOD FORBID) I just hope that he will send the hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants that he will give an amnesty to here, to Swansea then people will wake up. I guarantee that.
What New Labour (Blair) have done to this country is unforgiveable.”
by Heather, Mumbles
Wednesday, May 05 2010, 11:45AM
“Richard, Swansea central: "weapons we will never use", you sure about that? But that isn't the point is it!
As for illegal immigrants; well, let them invade Swansea and then talk to me. It's easy to speak from your "leafy" location isn't it.
As for your personal jibe Meirion, well, you are entitled to your opinion and you are nearly correct, however, I don't dislike anyone because to dislike someone you have to care about them: and I don't! Apart from the selected "few" of course!”
by slumdog trust millionaire, landore
Wednesday, May 05 2010, 11:14AM
“lets hope that its the foreign one to one teachers, the ones brought in to act as translators for immigrants in our schools, that are the ones to go.
we dont need them, my children want to learn on an equal footing with every other child in their classroom. why do these immigrants get thousands of pounds chanelled into their education, away from ordinary Britons.
sort it!”
by Richard, Swansea central
Wednesday, May 05 2010, 10:37AM
“Sorry, I missed some zeros converting to the American numbering system.
Saving 100billion pounds by scrapping Trident actually frees up £12,500 per pupil, which for a school of 1500 pupils is £18.75 million pounds!! Those figures are astonishing. That's how we close our funding gap for education.”
by Richard, Swansea central
Wednesday, May 05 2010, 10:17AM
“@Heather: We've never used a nuclear weapon against anyone. What is the point in spending 100billion pounds on a weapons system that we will never use!? You talk about Al Qaeda, but these insurgents do not belong to one country. Even if they did get nuclear weapons and use them against us, where do we fire ours back to? We can't target a cave in rural Afghansitan, both because the weapons aren't localised and because we don't know where they are. They are crude weapons from the cold-war era and are useless in fighting the current threats to our country.
The savings that we would make from not renewing Trident would allow us to invest more money in to education, which I believe is a Lib Dem policy. Here's a quick back-of-an-envelope calculation:
There are currently 8 million primary and secondary school students in the UK. A saving of 100 billion pounds works out at £125 per pupil. For a school of 1500, that's an extra £187,500!
No-one should complain about education cuts and then support wasting money on weapons that we've never used and never will.”
by meirion, Swansea
Wednesday, May 05 2010, 10:09AM
“Heather. You keep harping on about Harrow and how the Muslims and other immigrants have destroyed it with regard to education and housing. You also harp on about Mumbles people not liking you. I am a bit confused you dont like any one. Why not move back to the Ammanvalley where you have roots.”