Demonstration outside Hammersmith Town Hall over Sure Start

National media, demonstrators and politicians will gather outside Hammersmith Town Hall on monday evening as MP Andy Slaughter seeks to maximise the local opposition to cuts being planned for Sure Start services, revealed by the Mirror newspaper a week or so ago.

Initially the Council dismissed the reports as "predictably dishonest", referring to the Mirror's generally Labour supporting stance, but since then the BBC among others have also reported the story leading to a quote from the Local Government Association Chairwoman which appears to concede that these cuts to early years support services in our borough are very much on.

The Council meet on Monday evening to vote on these cuts but as I said here, as something of a veteran of these meetings now, it's a foregone conclusion. There is likely to be plenty of ire and fire from angry councillors in the chamber but the vote will go the Council's way and the services will start to be withdrawn.

Whether the noisy demonstrations outside limit the cuts in any way is unlikely, but it's the first of what promises to be a series of feisty political encounters in Shepherd's Bush,  Hammersmith and the surrounding areas over just how far the cuts to our local services are likely to go. More to follow next week - watch this space.