Cameron: Big Society Not A 'Cover' For Cuts - Sky News

2:15pm UK, Sunday February 13, 2011

Rob Cole and Adam Arnold, Sky News Online

David Cameron has defended his Big Society project against claims it is just a "cover" for spending cuts.

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The Prime Minister said people needed to volunteer more if his aim of handing power to local communities and voluntary organisations was to be successful.

Dame Elisabeth Hoodless - who is standing down as executive director of Community Service Volunteers, Britain's biggest volunteering charity - warned last week that spending cuts could obliterate the volunteer base.

"Building a stronger, bigger society is something we should try and do whether spending is going up or down," Mr Cameron wrote in The Observer.

"But there is a broader point to be made. As the state spends less and does less - which would be happening whichever party was in government - there would be a positive benefit if some parts of society were to step forward and do more."

Mr Cameron said ministers were opening up billions of pounds worth government contracts so that charities and social enterprises can compete for the first time.

A transition fund to help charities bid for those contracts and a Big Society bank will be launched soon.

I don't think Middle England has quite taken on board the scale of the problem. That will emerge as the cuts start coming home this year.

Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke

Mr Cameron's Big Society was also defended on Sky News by Civil Society minister Nick Hurd.

He told presenter Dermot Murnaghan: "We face enormous challenges as a country and it's time to recognise the Government does not have all the answers, not least with less money around.

"It's time to strike a better partnership between business, government, the voluntary sector and active citizens who want to make a bigger contribution to improving their communities."

But shadow communities secretary Caroline Flint criticised the Big Society project, calling it a "sham".

She told the Murnaghan programme: "The local voluntary sector depends on local authorities for some of their funding and some of the support they get.

"What they see is that they are being asked to take over services or see them close, and that is not good enough."

And former Conservative minister David Mellor told Murnaghan: "Don't expect me to defend the Big Society."

He said: "During the election, I said this was a lead balloon and I don't know why he keeps on at it. This is bad for the Tory party."