In 2010, the UK government embarked on a major programme of public spending cuts, chopping tens of billions of pounds from many services, including policing, local government and public health. Local communities were expected to find other ways of providing vital services, but in some places it has been a struggle. Amid government claims that the decade of austerity is over, Michael Buchanan meets people in Hartlepool in the North East of England to find out how the cuts have affected them.
