Snouts in the trough on April the 1st?
The image of councillors with their snouts in the trough was difficult to refute on the evening of the 1st of April, as the Tory controlled North Somerset Council voted for large increases in their allowances, while just a few weeks before they had initiated massive cuts to social care for the young and the old, that will have a serious impact on the lives of North Somerset residents. Voluntary groups such as MYCON in Nailsea which do sterling work helping youngsters on the streets are to close because their funding is being cut. Increased charges are to be introduced for those using day care and meals on wheels services, and in the midst of this Councillors are to award themselves more money.
The Council Chairman David Shopland will have spoken for many when he said:
"You have all seen the letter from the Union (UNISON) which spells out the serious cuts we have had to make in the provision of necessary services to the vulnerable in our society.
We cannot now use the money we have taken from them to line our pockets, that would be reprehensible and totally immoral.
Be very careful in how you act and vote tonight. The Public will not forget in three years time and I remember an administration and councillors who fell because the public did not accept the monies they were being paid".
For whatever reason his words were not heeded in the Council, but in three years time the people of North Somerset will get their chance to speak with their votes.
Politics and politicians have taken a huge knock in recent years, to lie in the minds of many at the bottom of society, and in the light of what happened last night, many may say “rightly so”. We who want to use politics to make a change for good in this land, must rise above murky self interest if we are to win the hearts and minds of the Great British People.
The principle of councillors receiving adequate allowances is not to my mind in question and I will be putting together a joint policy paper to the next Lib Dem Federal Conference suggesting the creation of a national allowance scale for elected holders of public office. What was in question however was the timing of the proposed increases in the allowances, when the Tory Council policies are threatening the welfare of the most vulnerable in North Somerset.
Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidates Mike Bell and Brian Mathew with the UNISON Lobby of Councillors on the 1st of April outside North Somerset Council
Posted by Brian at 12:00 AM | Link | 0 comments
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