Thursday, March 28News For London

Cameron’s mother signs petition against child service cuts

David Cameron’s 81-year-old mother, Mary Cameron, has backed a campaign to save dozens of children’s centres against Tory spending cuts

Mrs Cameron, a retired magistrate, has signed a petition calling on Conservative-led Oxfordshire County Council to abandon its plans to close 44 of its early years children centres.

They are to be replaced with eight Children and Family Centres accessible only to the most vulnerable by referral.

The 38 Degrees online campaign was retweeted by political organisation ChrisCross across the internet to raise awareness of the proposed shut down by Oxfordshire County Council.

 

Family Signing

David Cameron’s mother is understood to have signed the petition with her sister Claire Currie, from Oxford who is a key supporter.

The Oxford Mail first reported the story.  Mrs Cameron told the Oxford Mail she was not directly involved with the campaign, but said: “Where children’s centres are needed, they are invaluable.”

Screen Shot 2016-02-15 at 12.37.35

Signed by an estimated 7,000 people, the 38 Degree e-petition claims that the cuts to children’s centres will “fail an entire generation of children”.

 

 

Council Cut Objections

The signing has attracted growing attention against Conservative anti-austerity measures with sardonic amusement by media outlets such as the UK Huffington Post:

This comes just months after David Cameron, MP for Witney since 2001 just outside Oxford, is accused of hypocrisy for writing to the council to raise his own objections on cut-backs.

The Prime Minister wrote to the local authority expressing “disappointment” at planned cuts to museums, libraries and care homes.

But council chief Ian Hudspeth hit back, saying the curbs were the result of reductions in funding from his Government.