Recently on Radio Derby I was explaining that the £157 million of cuts constantly referred to by the controlling Labour Group on the County Council is, in fact, £157 million of savings the council must make over the next 4 years. If we must, however, call this a cut in the budget then the figure is a little over £39 million a year – or 8% of the total yearly budget …not, as some Labour Councillors suggest 31% of an annual budget of £511 million. Clearly a completely different financial picture to the shroud waving we get from Labour Councillors.
In addition to this manipulation of figures and the steady stream of announcements of which services will be cut, the Labour County Council appear to have forgotten why every council in the country has to make savings…we are, of course, all paying off Labour’s massive debts.
Debts caused by the over borrowing and national economic mismanagement which left us on the brink of bankruptcy in 2010 when the Conservative led coalition came into office. How many people remember the note left to us by Labour’s outgoing Chief Secretary to the Treasury in which, with honesty now conveniently forgotten, he said ‘I’m afraid there is no money’?
Of course many Conservative councils have managed to cut waste, freeze the council tax and NOT cut essential services. For example Conservative controlled South Derbyshire District Council has both slashed waste and improved commercial receipts in order to improve essential services whilst continuing to freeze the council tax.
In contrast Labour has decided to cut essential services, refused to curb non- essential spending and continues to blame everyone but themselves for the need of central government to repay the debts incurred by Blair, Brown and Darling.
In fact they have learnt nothing more than how to continue to spin what they consider it expedient for you to believe.
Almost their first decision was to dismiss the Chief Executive, a man who had worked tirelessly for Derbyshire over 38 years serving politicians from both the left and the right. This act cost them almost £220, 000 plus legal and recruitment costs of £16,000. They also decided to recruit a second Assistant Chief Executive on a salary of £83,000.
In another example the County Council agreed to spend £153,000 to employ a private Public Relations Company, conveniently run by two ex-Labour party officials, to convince you that they are acting in your interests - whilst at the same time preparing to end the part funding of rural bus routes and reducing the mobile library services in my constituency.
These three unnecessary decisions alone wasted 10% of the money which needed to be saved this year and there are more.
Both locally and nationally the message is clear – only the Conservatives can finish the job of rebuilding our prosperity.
History shows that every Labour administration has left our nation in a financial mess, they can never be trusted on the economy.
Labour continue to promise money to spend on everything and come up with policies which even cursory scrutiny shows will not work. We all know, in truth, that a return to the economic policies that have ruined Greece, Italy, Spain and France will lead us to a financial catastrophe - and a level of enforced public spending cuts – in the NHS, Education and state pension payments - which would mirror those in much of the Euro zone today.
We can only avoid this outcome, see businesses thriving, unemployment come down and secure our futures by continuing with the Conservatives economic plan for sustained recovery.