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  Remember their milk being snatched................
  
  Free school meals may be scrapped by councils under 'tidal wave' of cuts
  
  Think-tank warns of 'a tidal wave of cuts that makes the 1980s look like a day at the beach'
  
  Free school meals could soon be scrapped and people paid to look after elderly neighbours
  
  as councils take desperate measures to deliver a "tidal wave" of spending cuts, ministers will
  
  be warned on Tuesday.
  
  Closures of municipal theatres, leisure centres, libraries and play groups will accelerate
  
  because of a 50 per cent reduction in local authorities' spending power, according to a
  
  report from an independent think-tank.
  
  The New Local Government Network said town halls will struggle to cope with a £16.5bn gulf
  
  which could, under current Coalition plans, open between their income and the demands on them.
  
  The disparity will leave them facing huge problems meeting their commitments to care for the
  
  millions of "baby boomers" reaching old age and educate growing numbers of children.
  
  The financial pressures could become so acute that ordinary householders could even be paid
  
  to look after elderly and vulnerable neighbours as a cheaper alternative to employing skilled carers,
  
  the organisation speculates.

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