Liberal Democrats express concern over failure to meet costs (East of England Regional Assembly Group)

East of England Regional Assembly Group <info@eeralibdems.org.uk>

Liberal Democrats express concern over failure to meet costs

July 2, 2007 3:27 PM

Today Liberal Democrats on Suffolk County Council responded to the publication of the first stage of the Conservative Administrations' plans for privatising the County Council and expressed concern over their failure to meet all the costs they need despite cutting jobs.

The plans published today outline a potential saving of £7.8 million over three years by creating the "Strategic Centre" at the top of the County Council with the loss of up to 116 jobs.

The report also outlines further potential savings of up to £31 million over three years. This would however not cover the expected funding gap of £75 million the Administration claimed it was facing - there will be a shortfall of between £36 - £44 million.

Assessing the proposals, Group Leader of the Liberal Democrats Cllr Kathy Pollard said, "Since they've been in power the Conservatives have consistently failed to make the case for Suffolk with the Government with regard to funding. These proposals give a sense of a knee jerk reaction to a problem rather than a well thought out solution. It seems that after their promises of stopping their raid on services we'll still be subject to tens of millions of pounds of cuts to services in the years to come; a disappointing effort all round."

Deputy Group Leader Andrew Cann said, "The Conservatives paid a lot of money for their KPMG report, and now it seems only some of the savings are deliverable. The Tories have also made much of saving £150m over 6 years to prevent cuts to services. The truth of the matter is that the publication of the blueprint for Securing the Future has shown they have already failed.

The timing of this announcement is also unfortunate. The County Council is publishing it's blueprint for the future without knowing whether the Ipswich Unitary Bid has succeeded or not. With 25% of it's revenue dependent upon that decision it would seem daft to be staking all on plan a when a more radical plan be could be required in a matter of weeks.

Notwithstanding the future of local government structures in Suffolk, less than half the necessary savings have been identified which will leave between £36 and £44m of cuts to services for the vulnerable over the next three years. That means the Tories will have cut services to the vulnerable by £90m since they came to office. Who knows - will it be £100m by the time their term of office finishes? The Tories promised to cut bureaucracy and save services. In truth, it's the services Suffolk County Council exists to provide that are being cut."