FOR the Conservative Lead Member for Resources to write in the Swindon Advertiser that there was a virtual consensus in the council chamber is extremely misleading. In actual fact, if readers had been in the council chamber, they would have seen everybody against the Conservative administration’s budget (admittedly the Conservative backbenchers were whipped in to supporting their administration’s budget, however everybody else in the chamber voted against the Conservative’s budget, including the public!).
It really was incredible how much spin Mark Edwards wrote in his letter. An example of this was when he described the Labour Group’s budget as ‘Rash, electioneering’, this was another way of him stating that our budget had public support and his budget did not!
Mark also went on to say that, in his opinion, our budget was not “fully thought out in terms of their impacts on the town nor did they add value to the people of Swindon”. Could the Conservative member please explain to the public how spending in gross terms £560k on Council Communications, £33k on Council Hospitality and over £146k on Consultancy Fees (to name merely a few areas of luxurious Conservative spending) is really benefiting the council tax payers of Swindon?
Furthermore, could you please explain to the public how hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of cuts to council services that maintain and support Swindon local environment, as well as support the vulnerable and elderly, is adding value to the people of Swindon? I think most people would agree that your cuts to council services will have a much worse impact on the town than our cuts.
Lastly, I think what is developing is that the Conservative administration have lost touch on what regular people want from their council. So while the Conservative administration is spending vast amounts of money that are of benefit to themselves, they are making brutal cuts to services that all members of the public (including our town’s most vulnerable) rely on.
(Coun) JUNAB ALI
Labour Councillor for the Central Ward
Cottington Close
Freshbrook
Swindon
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