Letter From Cllr Jack Hulme
Below is a letter to the editor sent by Cllr Jack Hulme. He’s the leader of the Conservative group on Oldham Council, and a member of the Liberal Democrat/Conservative administration which controls the council.
I’ve reproduced the letter in full. If you would like to respond to the points made in the letter, you can either leave a comment below this post, or send an e-mail by clicking on the Contact option at the top of this page. If you would like an e-mail published on this website then please mark it as a letter to the editor, and I’ll be happy to do so.
“At the council meeting on 3 November, council will consider five motions submitted by the Labour group. Of those, four of them are nothing but criticism of the coalition government’s efforts to bring Labour’s £150 billion deficit under control.
“Labour, who instructed the Treasury to prepare plans for a 20% rise in VAT, now appear to oppose this necessary step. They oppose students contributing more to the cost of their university education, oppose savings in the police budget, and oppose removing child benefit for higher rate taxpayers.
“The VAT rise is estimated to bring the Treasury an additional £13 billion per year by the end of the Parliament. The changes to child benefit will save £1 billion per year. Savings in the police budget, by no means all frontline savings, will save around £1 billion per year. Students paying a higher proportion of their fees will save nearly £3 billion.
“Taken together, that is £18 billion, or over 10% of the national deficit that your Labour councillors don’t think we should deal with. That’s an extra £18 billion they would rather borrow and have accumulate millions in interest payments; even more money that could be funding our vital public services.
“As always, noise and lots of it is the Labour game. Within these motions they offer no alternative propositions, no positive suggestions as to what could be done to deal with the mess their government left behind. Instead they offer only criticism.
“In Oldham, we are working hard to make sure our council is well placed to deliver in the difficult years ahead. We will be making tough decisions about what our priorities are, and the services we should be offering. I fear it is wishful thinking to believe the Labour group will be more constructive when it comes to local decisions than they appear to be when it comes to national ones.”
Cllr Jack Hulme
Author: Jude Gidney - Editor
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