The local Guardian newspaper has highlighted the amount of taxpayers’ money that the Labour Council is spending on campaign propaganda. Is this a smoke screen to hide their cuts to services?

In a poll by one national newspaper Waltham Forest was judged the highest spender on propaganda in the country.

The budget Councillor Bob Sullivan put forward on behalf of the Liberal Democrat Group in opposition to the Labour budget showed many areas of savings including the saving of £250,000 by getting rid of the political campaigning and putting that money into respite care for children and families.

The reduction in respite care will cause much anxiety to the families who desperatly need respite care for them and their children.

The LIberal Democrats were the only party to oppose the Labour budget – the Conservatives did not put forward any alternative budget, but spent time praising the Labour leader of the Council! So much for Tory opposition.

WOULD YOU BELIEVE IT! 

At the Council meeting last week where the 2011/2012 budget was set, the Tories, who are the official opposition on Waltham Forest’s Labour Council, failed to put forward their own budget.

They also failed to support the Lib Dem budget, which tried to save some of the key services to vulnerable families and residents of the borough (see earlier report for details).  They tried to deride it and even went on to praise the Labour budget that cut services by millions. 

Those at the meeting were taken aback by the ‘cosying up’ of the Tories to Labour.  Some even said it looked like a ‘Love In’.  When it came to the vote the Tories  then ABSTAINED on both the Labour and Liberal Democrat budgets!  So much for the Tory opposition on the Council.

The Liberal Democrat councillors were the ONLY opposition to Labour.

At the Council’s budget setting meeting, last night, the Liberal Democrats put forward their alternative proposals:

LIB DEMS SET OUT PLANS FOR BETTER BUDGET WHICH PROTECTS THE MOST VULNERABLE

The Liberal Democrat Group will yesterday (Tuesday 8 March) put forward a budget amendment which protects services to the most vulnerable, especially children and carers, and still freezes council tax.

The Liberal Democrat budget:

• puts more money into children centres, young people’s services, respite care and support for carers and people with mental health problems compared to Labour’s proposals
• maintains services to residents in Chingford, Leyton and Leytonstone through Waltham Forest Direct, so that residents will not have to travel to Walthamstow to deal with benefit and other council enquiries
• restores residents’ ability to influence decision-making by retaining slimmed-down community councils
• reverses above-inflation fee increases for pest control charges and sports pitch hire
• funds extra pothole repairs this year to put right our crumbling roads.

 The Liberal Democrats will fund these services by:

• slashing members allowances, which have grown substantially over the last decade, by over a quarter of a million pounds
• reducing the amount spent on corporate communications and campaigns. Waltham Forest was recently revealed as the biggest spender on propaganda associated with the Comprehensive Spending Review, using almost £27,000 of taxpayers’ money to promote the fact it has to make savings
• reducing the amount spent on subsidising trades union activity in line with other service reductions
• using money built up in the insurance reserve to fund pothole repairs thereby reducing the number of successful insurance claims against the council

• using other reserves to protect key services and support the transition to new ways of working

Liberal Democrat Group Leader, Councillor Bob Sullivan, said:

“This is a very difficult budget for the council but Labour has chosen to protect councillors’ allowances and the council’s propaganda factory while making cuts that the Liberal Democrats would not have done. Our budget proposals protect those services which make a real difference to residents’ lives.”

Liberal Democrat councillor for Forest ward, Farooq Qureshi, said:

“I am delighted that the Liberal Democrat proposals prevent the closure of the Waltham Forest Direct offices in Leyton, Leytonstone and Chingford – funded by cutting councillors’ allowances and reducing the amount of money spent on glossy campaigns. The services provided by the WFD shops are irreplaceable. They should not be forced to travel to join long queues in the sole remaining Walthamstow office.”

Liberal Democrat High Street councillor Mahmood Hussain said:

“It is clear that Labour’s proposals will have a drastic impact on many people who rely on respite care to give them a vital break. By putting extra money back into this service the Lib Dem amendment gives carers a boost.”

Liberal Democrat Cann Hall ward councillor Liz Phillips said:

“Waltham Forest has one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in England and Wales. It is a false economy to cut this service so drastically when the social and economic costs of teenage pregnancy are so high.”