As a Cornwall Councillor, I am getting increasingly angry
about how certain politicians in Cornwall
continue to make ridiculous statements which they think will bolster their
short-term political prospects.
Following the agreement of the Liberal Democrat budget
amendment (also supported by the majority of Conservatives), the Council has produced
a report which shows where the job cuts may fall and what services might be adversely
affected.
But the Deputy Leader of the Lib Dem group on the unitary
authority is attempting to rubbish the report, with yet more unfounded and
shameful claims. These include the following: “There needs to be no cuts in
services and no front line staff axed” and that: “There needs to be no loss to
services, no cuts to localism and no cuts to the library service based on the
budget passed by full council.”
What nonsense.
By contrast, about ten days ago Cornwall Council released
information about how the Liberal Democrat “agency staff” budget amendment was “at
best naïve and at worst nonsensical.“ Evidence was presented to show that the
figures simply did not add up (see blog entry for 4th March). At that time, the
Lib Dem response was one of silence.
Would that be the same Dep Ldr of the Lib Dems that claimed on TV recently that there will be no job cuts in fact this budget will create jobs, that he had worked with Council Officers for 3 months on the budget, that agency jobs cost twice as much as permanent contract jobs, that front line services would not be affected? Well that's worked out well then.
ReplyDeleteOn the bright side - I will be 45p a week better off. On a slightly gloomier note, I have just received my Business Rate bill for the year and it has gone up by £50 a month.
My concern is that in the real world, the cost of almost everything is going up, whilst the money to fund public sector activity is being cut. Why would you choose to further hamper your ability to provide services by such a short sighted and frankly irresponsible freeze. Most right thinking tax payers would have expected a rise at or about the rate of inflation - and that was what was on the table. Even with a cynical back-hander from central government to sweeten the pill, 0% does not look good for the long term viability of the council balance sheet.
The more cynical might just see it as an ill thought through eye-catcher. The reality is this has not played out well on the doorstep; the voters have seen through the dangerous dance of this unlikely coalition between a Lib Dem group desperate to regain power and a disaffected Tory faction.