The Labour group in Cornwall has condemned Cornwall Council's job cuts announcement today as a 'knee jerk' response.

The condemnation comes as the Conservative led council announced that it was cutting hundreds of jobs to save money.

The council says the cuts will be done by continuing a recruitment freeze and deleting vacancies and inviting staff to take voluntary redundancy.

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Cornwall Council to cut hundreds of jobs to save money

But this afternoon the Cornwall Council Labour group said there was no coherent plan and the announcement was just a 'knee jerk' reaction.

"We have seen no budget yet and there appears to be no coherent restructuring plan. Just a knee jerk response from the Conservative administration to cut everything that can be to the bone.

"Our staff at Cornwall Council are our biggest asset and we have a responsibility to Cornwall to carry out our statutory functions.

"This is a huge decision to reduce staff by 10% in year, that appears to have been taken with no real strategy behind it and with no consultation yet with members, staff or unions.

"Of course the elephant in the room is the continued cuts to local government funding by this Conservative government. Perhaps our Conservative Council should be spending their energies pushing them for better funding to provide our services."

The chancellor's budget and spending review next week must give a longer term, sustainable funding solution for local government.