Commenting on the launch of David Cameron’s ‘big society’, Dave Prentis, General Secretary of UNISON, the UK’s largest public service union, said:
“Cameron’s “big society” should be renamed the “big cop out.” Make no mistake this plan is all about saving money. And it will cost even more jobs and lead to more service cuts.
“The Government is simply washing its hands of providing decent public services and using volunteers as a cut-price alternative. We don’t want jumble sales to provide incubators for babies, we shouldn’t have volunteers taking over our libraries or museums and where are all these people with time on their hands, going to come from? Are we going to pay an army of newly unemployed to help run services?
“Public services must be based on the certainty that they are there when you need them, not when a volunteer can be found to help you.”
