Something stinks. Is your council making cuts? Are they cutting libraries and other important services that do not need to be cut and cost less than councillors expenses? If they are ask them how much they have in the bank: many councils are hoarding cash despite spending cuts - maybe for a rainy day, after all they are advised to 'keep sufficient sums of money in reserve so that they have a financial cushion to meet sudden unexpected costs' - but they had that anyway, right? Two examples of cash reserves: Labour-led Wakefield Council's will have more than doubled from 21 million quid to over 50 million and Labour-run Bolton Council's more than tripled from 23 million quid to over 80 million [oops, pdf]; these are Labour examples from the Telegraph, not doubt there are others from Lib Dem and/or Conservative run councils...no doubt... Hat-tip: Not a sheep
And talking of asking questions, John Redwood suggests a few more: "I do wish the media and journalists would sharpen their questions for 2012."
2 comments:
Have to say the council cuts discussion/argument is very confusing. Our library is having an extension built at the sports centre is having a new wing added, plus a bridge in town has been rebuilt and the council have re-purchased a car park they sold (with an option) 20 years ago. There's also a new community hall going up in a well known public space next year.
Have to say I'm a bit concerned that John Redwood's piece has a lot of points in it that I made after the 'veto' meeting.
Even that Bolton doc (the oops link) has a series of good measures but the overall recommendations is closures/savings (restructuring the service, I'll keep an eye on how they spin that)
Re JW, not just after the veto meeting, reading down after the Euro bit you can see many questions re debt, regulation, councils etc that should have been asked months and years ago (the trade with EU bit and rest of world has been a question for over a decade!)
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