By Cllr Andy Croy
Last year, the Conservatives were responsible for a catastrophic mini-budget.
The mini-budget is costing many local families hundreds of pounds a month. It made the United Kingdom an international laughing stock, so calamitous was its effect on our economy and on the career of the Prime Minister. She was put in power by, among others, our local Conservative councillors.
The budget was seen to lack credibility as the promises made could not be paid for – otherwise known as Trussonomics.
Liz Truss’s local supporters are set on repeating the same basic error – making promises that do not have to be paid for and never mind the consequences for the Council’s finances, or to the over- stretched vital services which, even now, are barely coping with demand.
Earlier this year at Wokingham Borough Council we had the infamous Conservative ‘alternative’ budget. I write ‘alternative’ as it was never really an alternative. Had the Conservatives been in power and presented this budget to Council’s Chief Financial Officer, who has a statutory responsibility to make sure the Council does not go bust, he would have sent them away with a very professional flea in their ear.
In fact, that is exactly what he did. A Council rule means that any motion that comes to Council must have a financial assessment provided by the CFO. The CFO’s assessment of the Conservatives’ proposal ran to one typed side. He was as polite and professional as he could be but any assessment that concluded that the amendment “would inevitably add sizeable risk on top of the challenging targets and subsequent risks already included” was clearly as damning as it could possibly be.
Astonishingly, only 20 of 26 Conservatives bothered to turn up to vote for their dangerous alternative and it was easily defeated by a combination of not just Labour, Liberal and Independent councillors but fundamentally by people who want their sums to add up and their budgets to make sense.
And yet the local Conservatives have learned nothing from the Liz Truss adventure, nor taken on board the verdict of the CFO.
Their election campaign seems to consist solely of promising millions of pounds of unfunded election freebies. Millions of extra pounds that will have to be paid by residents because local Conservatives have some bizarre ideological commitment to blue bags.
I am sure local foxes will be happy with a continuation of the blue bag status quo and – to be honest – it is nice to see Conservatives doing something to support foxes rather than those who would rip them limb from limb – but over a million pounds a year is a saving that the Council cannot ignore.
The millions of pounds of residents’ money that has been wasted because of the blue bag fixation does not bare thinking about. They have been putting our cash into landfill.
The local Conservatives were in power for 20 long years – and just now they are promising to increase household recycling to above 55%. Why oh why did they not implement these magic measures before they lost power? I suspect the answer is because waste management experts would have told them their plans, like their alternative budget, were nonsensical.
But Conservative councillors do have an answer to the cash shortage facing the Council: cuts to essential services. In the letters page of this paper and in the Council chamber they have made clear their preference to stop the filling of vacancies in Children’s Services and Adult Social Care. These teams serve the most vulnerable in our community and, true to type, the Conservatives will look to this area for the savings needed to fund their election promises.
Make no mistake – a vote for the local Conservatives is a vote for an awful hybrid of Trussonomics and austerity. Either they will trash the Council’s finances or they will trash local lives. They may well do both.
Cllr Andy Croy is Labour ward member for Bulmershe and Whitegates. His seat is not up for re-election this year
