Successor to Thatcher: Swimming Snatcher

Cameron: The puppy's next

The coalition government has announced that free swimming for the over-60s and under-16s in England is to be cancelled as part of wide-ranging cuts in public spending.

The initiative had been running for just over a year, but will now finish next month, saving the government an estimated £40 million.

Swimmers in Leeds were particularly badly hit as it was announced that work on the Holt Park Well-being centre and swimming pool will also be stopped.

Over 18 million free swims were provided by 261 local authorities as part of the scheme, but government research found that the vast majority of those swimming would have gone anyway, even if they had to pay.

Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson, who was a life guard from 1982 to 1995, said “With a crippling deficit to tackle and tough decisions to take, this has become a luxury we can no longer afford.”

‘First Last of the Summer Wine is cancelled, now this!’ said a representative from British Swimming in response. ‘Haven’t the over-60s suffered enough?’