No respect for Lib-Dems

The article on hospitality at the Sunderland Airshow is another in a series of attempts by local Liberal Democrats to smear all other councillors for being on the take whilst remaining silent on their own finances.

The Labour councillors can speak for themselves but, as leader of the Conservative councillors, I can give an assurance than no one in my group is taking anything they should not be taking.

Liberal Democrat campaigner, Heather Fagan, offered neither names nor amounts in an article that is a non-story as hospitality for councillors at the airshow ended many years ago after Conservative protests.

What the Liberal Democrats are doing is to try to confuse the public between allowances (annual payments for the work of a councillor) and other payments by saying that they ‘don’t claim a penny’ on one but not the other.

In fact, Liberal Democrat councillors are quietly claiming the full allowances running into tens of thousands of pounds each and then attacking others-without evidence-for claiming much smaller amounts.

At the council meeting at which this was discussed Conservative councillors proposed a cut to all allowances-including their own-to be considered by the independent remuneration panel which makes the decision.

Sadly the Liberal Democrat councillors only proposed to cut the allowances of the other political groups leaving their own intact which is hardly a position which can command much respect if the truth be known. Coun Robert Oliver Leader, Conservative Council Group