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Children's writer Alan Gibbons, founder of The Campaign for the Book, has hit out at culture minister Ed Vaizey for failing to do in government what he argued for in opposition. In an open letter signed by authors such as Philip Pullman and Carol Ann Duffy, Gibbons has called on the Government to "prevent councils inflicting cuts which amount to cultural vandalism".
Gibbons said Vaizey had previously called on the then secretary of state Andy Burnham "to intervene when library provision is slashed in a local authority such as the Wirral". According to Gibbons, with cuts approaching the scale of those in the Wirral in Oxfordshire and Lewisham, and also in Buckinghamshire, Nottinghamshire, Leeds, Brent, Gloucestershire, it would now be "inconsistent if the DCMS did not superintend councils acting as unjustifiably as Wirral, preventing the slashing of services".
Library services have been put under threat as local councils work to meet their lower budgets following the Comprehensive Spending Review. At least 25 local authorities have announced new proposals for cost-cutting to their library services since the October review, with fresh details emerging almost every day. Librarians">http://www.thebookseller.com/news/136117-massive-cutbacks-to-library-ser... have said they are “angry and depressed" at the wave of library cutbacks but feel “powerless" because they cannot speak openly about them.
Gibbons' letter concludes: "We call on the DCMS not to ignore its responsibilities."