When council leaders petition No 10 to end austerity, things are bad | Polly Toynbee

Labour councils have had enough. As another round of devastating cuts looms, the leader of Newcastle council has gone to the source

With the budget barely more than a week away, the queue of desperate petitioners would stretch down Whitehall, far out of sight. If austerity is over, who's first in line? In the battle of crises, whose need is greatest?

This morning an actual petition was handed into No 10 by one sector among those that have suffered the worst in the great state shrinkage of the last eight years - local government. Nick Forbes, leader of Newcastle city council, handed in a plea signed by all Labour local government leaders to stop the next round of cuts - a further 1.3bn due to be lopped off in April. If that axe falls again, Theresa May's "austerity is over" conference message will be exposed as pure deceit.

Related: Even Tory councils are now calling on ministers to ease the pain of cuts | Patrick Butler

Related: Yes we must take back control, not from Brussels - from Whitehall | Simon Jenkins

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