Council budget controversy rages on as Conservatives respond to fag packet jibe

Date published: 26/02/2006

Conservative leader, Cllr Ian Duckworth, has responded to Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Alan Taylor's accusation that the Labour/Conservative coalition "cobbled together" the council budget on the "back of a fag packet".

Cllr Duckworth says that the Liberal Democrats actions at the council meeting to set the budget demonstrated why, in his opinion, they are "unfit to run the Borough of Rochdale".

He went on to say:

"The Lib Dems abstained on every vote and did not offer one proposal to bridge an £8.2 million gap in the Council's finances. Of course they know that most people don't attend Council meetings and they will be spinning this as the Conservative/Labour coalition introducing cuts to services because we want to. I hope that some day soon, the voters of the borough will wake up to the fact that the Lib Dems now take their policies not from the people who elected them, or their more experienced members, but from an unelected spin doctor, David Hennigan, who accompanies Cllr Taylor around the Town Hall like a conjoined twin.

"I feel sorry for the majority of decent Lib Dem councillors who now have no say in their own group."
 
Cllr Duckworth went on to explain that Cllr Taylor and/or Councillor Watkins (Lib Dem Finance) have attended nearly every informal and formal cabinet meeting where the budget has been discussed and have been encouraged to have their say. He says they have also attended 'away days', where finances were on the agenda. He comments: "This is a matter of public record that proves Councillor Taylor is not being truthful when he says he has been excluded. So how can the voters of this borough trust a party led by someone who is willing to say what is the opposite of the facts?"
 
The Conservative group proposed a council tax rise of 4.1%, Labour 4.9%. So the council wouldn't be left without a budget, both parties negotiated a compromise at 4.62%.

The Liberal Democrats complained of being "cynically excluded from the budget process by the Labour/Conservative Coalition" - Cllr Duckworth responds: "If the Lib Dems had put forward any proposals we would have considered them too, but they didn't."

And in answer to the "fag packet" accusation he was scathing, saying: "nothing was done on the back of a fag packet, that's more cheap spin. Both parties had planned for any eventuality, its basic management. That the Lib Dem leadership didn't understand council procedures was due to the leadership ignoring their more experienced councillors and taking their orders from their spin doctor sat up in the gallery."