Labour Party needs to take the blame
DEAR Editor, On Tuesday, December 6, I seconded the Conservative motion of No Confidence in the current Labour-led administration in respect to their ability to set a budget and live within that budget.
As was expected, the Labour group sought to blame the government and their amendment clearly demonstrated that all they were attempting to do was shift the blame, something even the Leader of Labour-led Wolverhampton Council has accused Cllr Clancy of!
At no time have we, in the Conservative Group, claimed that the austerity measures were not tough and we have joined in the cross-party approach to government for a fairer funding outcome.
But that does not excuse the current administration from their responsibility to set a budget based on what they have got or can realistically expect to get. Every household knows that you budget for what you have and not what the next winning horse at Warwick might bring.
It transpires that much of the budgeted savings for 2016/17 were based on nothing more than assumptions and whilst the Deputy Leader Cllr Ian Ward might claim that the budget was based on the information at the time surely it then brings into question the source and the basis of that information; information that has now resulted in the multimillion pound hole in their budget. For example, it was confirmed that the executive were not aware of changes made to the Better Care Fund in January (before the budget was set) until June, despite setting the budget in March and later blaming these changes for a significant part of the budget shortfall.
This great city of ours now finds itself in the embarrassing situation that next year’s budget is to be examined by an independent organisation, something that has never happened before! The Labour administration can blame who they like but at the end of the day it is their budget that has failed and it is their budget that has left the residents of Birmingham with the prospect of failing services, job losses and increased tax bills. Cllr Ken Wood New Hall Ward, Royal Sutton Coldfield