THIS week, the Tories made the most radical decision in the history of public service in Trafford [to investigate putting some services out to private tender], a decision which was not in their manifesto and over which there has been no consultation with the public who after all pay their council tax.

Yes, our waste is collected by a private company and while it is good to make provision of public service contestable – and to have some new ideas and benchmarks on how to organise things – that is not what is happening.

What the Tory decision will mean in practice is turning over a swathes of public services to providers who can only achieve more for less by cutting corners, downgrading the service or dramatically weakening the terms and conditions of employment, Cllr David Acton, leader of The Labour group on Trafford Council, will move a resolution at council this week, opposing privatisation of council services.

The fashionable option for many councils is to contract out services to a Serco or G4S, the momentum seems unstoppable despite the spate of recent scandals. It seems this council is to follow this route too.

Remember – private companies have to put their profits first.

There was once a Conservative tradition that honoured public service – but no more.

David Cameron talks of endless austerity in the service of a smaller state, no longer to instrumentally reduce the deficit, but as a matter of belief.

Because if you run a school, local authority, fire service, college, prison or police force this Coalition Government is your sworn enemy.

It is not just that this government is cutting current and capital spending by a degree unknown for a century but the cuts are being made with such relish.

Just listen to Eric Pickles. Public service, we are told, is an obstacle to wealth creation and freedom. There is, he says, too much state control and too much bureaucracy.

Public service is held in contempt.

The public may think that it can’t get worse. We have already seen £15million cuts in spending in Trafford affecting libraries, street cleaning, parks maintenance, closure of elderly person homes, sure start centres, day care centres – the list is endless But the public hasn’t seen anything yet.

This pattern cannot be repeated and with the huge range of statutory duties placed on councils, when at the same time funding is being cut, lives could be at serious risk.

Councils have taken the biggest cuts in the public service with a 33 per cent reduction to their government grant, with the poorest areas being hit the hardest while Whitehall budgets have been cut on average by 12 per cent.

The incantation is that councils must get more for less – not easy for a workforce that faces a never ending fall in living standards, few promotion prospects and the risk of losing their job.

Estimates from the Institute for Fiscal studies suggest that nationally, there will another one million job losses by 2017/18 in public service.

It is a monumental scam. These are dark days and they are set to become darker.

Tafford Labour Group, Trafford Council