EMF would welcome consultation on how the big society can play an enhanced role in society.  However we remain concerned that the savage cuts imposed on voluntary sector organisations may seriously damage any possibility of such plans being turned into reality.  The result will be individuals who are already marginalised by poverty and powerlessness being left behind by a “Big Society”, where everything hangs on how much power is assumed by which groups and businesses, to do what, for whom and how.  We already know that individuals who are at the margins of society tend to be cash poor, and time poor.  The Big Society appears to place heavy demands on the time of individuals, thus the worst off may be even more marginalised under the Big Society.